Nobody Likes You When You're 23
by Anne1
Summary: (This is actually 11 chapters) This takes place about six years after Hogwarts, and follows our favorite trio (and others) into their adult lives. Even though Voldemort is gone, life isn't all peaces and cream for Harry and co. (when was it ever?)...


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A/N: I'm not really sure why I uploaded this as one whole thing. Oh well, best explanation- I was bored! I also thought it might be easier for you readers who are starting it now not to have to go back and forth to my profile. Anyway, as always I hope you enjoy the story. Please write a review (no flames please!) after you're done reading and let me know what you thought- I value all your opinions! ~Anne

Disclaimer: If you haven't figured out yet that J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and all associated ideas, places, and people then my saying it probably won't help you much, but I will anyway: J.K. Rowling owns Harry, Ron, Hermione, and anyone else you recognize. I own the plot and all those characters who you say "Who the heck is that???" when they enter the storyline. For the record- Delia Smith is apparently a British cooking show host, but I didn't know that when I came up with the name, so don't sue me, please! 

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"Nobody Likes You When You're 23" 

~ Chapter 1 ~

Rinnng! Rinnng! "Hello?" Hermione Granger snatched up the telephone in her London flat, having just done the jump out of the shower- grab a towel- and sprint across apartment dash.

"Hey, Hermione? This is Lynn." Oh, Lynn. Hermione thought, a little disappointed. She knew the telephone was a muggle device, but she was hoping the call would be from one of her wizarding friends. After all, didn't Mr. Weasley use them sometimes? Lynn had been a friend from school before Hermoine had gone to Hogwarts, and they had bumped into each other a couple months ago and promised to stay in touch. Hermione had forgotten; a couple of months ago her mind had been occupied with more important things but obviously Lynn hadn't. 

"Lynn! Hi! It's good to hear from you." She said warmly.

" Thanks. Hermione, I'll get straight to the point- I need a favor, and if you do this I'll be eternally grateful."

"Eternally, huh? What can I do?" She smiled a little at Lynn's enthusiasm.

"Well, my fiancé, you know, Kevin" She waited for Hermione to acknowledge that she did indeed know Kevin.

" Well, he has this coworker, a guy named David Sloane, and I got the job of setting him up with someone,"

"Uh-oh. I can see where this is going." Hermione interrupted, but Lynn plowed ahead.

" But the thing is, see, you and he would really be perfect for each other. That was my thought when I first met him."

"When was that, pray tell?" 

"Two weeks ago. Please, Hermione, you've got to help me out. Just go out to dinner with the guy and then go home early, but please"

Hermione cut her off, "Why do you have the job of setting him up?"

"Oh, I was hoping you wouldn't ask that. Basically the wedding's in four months, right?"

"Right" Hermione said slowly, unable to see what train of thought her friend had picked up.

" Well, he isn't seeing anyone and he doesn't have a date- so we have to find one for him."

"You're kidding." Hermione said, incredulously, "Why doesn't he just go alone? Or bring a cousin or something?"

"Kevin feels sorry for him, and I've never heard him mention any family members. Please Hermione?"

"Oh, okay. Just call me sometime this week and let me know when he'll pick me up." Hermione answered thinking, It can't be that bad. At least it'll help me get back into the swing of dating.'

"Oh, God Bless You, Hermione Granger! Thanks so much!" 

Hermione laughed at her friend's enthusiasm and looked at the clock on her wall. "Oh my! Lynn, I've got to go- I'm going to be late for a lunch appointment."

"A date?" Lynn asked mischievously.

"No. I'm just meeting one of my best friends from school at the pub. Not exactly five star dining." Hermione smiled, thinking of the Leaky Cauldron. She doubted that old Tom, its proprietor, would know what five star dining meant.

"Okay. Well, I don't want to make you late. Thanks again! Bye!"

"Bye, Lynn." Hermione replied and hung up. She then proceeded to race back into her bedroom and yank clothes out of the closet, haphazardly. Lunch with Harry at the Leaky cauldron- not fancy, but look nice- she decided and pulled on a pair of jeans and a pale blue, cashmere sweater. She slid into a pair of brown, toeless, backless, shoes that matched her hair, which she dried with a flick of her wand, grabbed her purse and headed out the door. When she got to the busy street below she walked two blocks over to Charing Cross Road, down the street, and into the pub. She checked her watch- only ten minutes late. Then she spotted Harry, sitting on a barstool, sipping butterbeer, and conversing easily with Tom, who was behind the bar.

She walked over to them and said, "Butterbeer before one o'clock in the afternoon. I'm surprised at you Harry Potter." He turned and grinned at her, giving her a peck on the cheek.

"It's good to see you Mione."

"You, too." She said giving him a hug.

"What can I get you, Ms. Granger?" Tom asked.

"Oh, what the hell. How about one of those." She said pointing to 

Harry's glass. Tom drew the pint and handed it to her.

"Bad day?" Harry asked as they walked over to a table and sat down. 

"Oh, I don't know. I got set up on a blind date."

Harry raised his eyebrows. " When are you going?"

"I don't know."

"With who?"

"I forgot his name." He laughed. 

"And you're doing this why?"

"To help out a friend. And I figured this would be a good way to get back into dating, after, you know." He nodded. "Anyway, the guy's a muggle, so I won't have to answer questions about you, or explain what happened with Ron and I." They placed their orders and sat quietly for a minute.

"What's he do?" Harry asked, finally.

"He works with the fiancé of one of my old muggle friends- from before Hogwarts. I think he's an accountant or something."

"Now _there's_ an exciting job!" Harry grinned at me.

"Be quiet. I have to suffer through an entire meal with this guy, and from all accounts he's a real loser. Lynn said we'd be perfect for each other." Harry burst out laughing at this. 

"Hermione, I've known you for quite awhile now, and trust me- you are not the boring, muggle accountant type. Whoever thinks you are, doesn't know you very well."

She smiled at him, "Well, Lynn and I really haven't been close for thirteen years. Since we were ten. Maybe I was the boring, muggle accountant type then."

Harry smiled back, "Somehow I doubt it." Tom brought their food over and they began to eat.

"Well, whatever. How's Ron?" She asked, deftly changing the subject.

"Definitely not a boring, muggle accountant."

"Shut-up. You know what I meant."

"Yeah, I know what you meant. He's okay. Still hurt, but okay."

"How's work?"

"Mine or Ron's?"

"Both."

"Well, as for me, the wonderful world of being an auror still offers 24/7 risk of fatal injuries and little to no dental benefits, but I still love it."

"That's good." He nodded.

"And as for Ron, well he's doing quite well as an enforcer with the Magical Law Enforcement Squad. Fighting crime- he gets to haul in people like Draco Malfoy for a living. He loves it."

"So do you."

"So do I what?"

"Get to haul in people like Draco Malfoy for a living- don't you?"

"Not exactly- I deal more with people like old Lucius. Draco's only really quasi-evil, trained by his father in the Dark Arts but to lazy to do anything about it. Sure he breaks laws to pieces, but only really for the fun of it. Lucius and all the other loose death-eaters floating around though, they're different. With Ron and I it's like the difference between the police and the FBI- they take the single or double murder cases and everything down from that- we take the big operators, the ones out for world domination and other crap like that."

"So Ron works on murders and stuff?" Hermione asked, a trace of worry in her voice.

"Yeah- Ron's at the top of his field as an enforcer. He's climbed the ladder quickly, cause he's good- very good." 

Hermione did not seem pleased to hear this. "That puts him in a lot more danger doesn't it?" She asked, concern evident in her voice.

"Yes, but Ron's a professional, Mione. He knows what he's doing." Harry answered, polishing off his meal. Hermione had already finished her salad, so they paid and got up. 

"Do you want to go for some ice-cream?" Harry asked. 

"Sure. I haven't been to Florean Fortescue's in way too long." She answered. They went out the back door and before Harry could tap the appropriate brick, Hermione said, "Wait!" And changed her jeans and sweater into long pale blue robes, exactly the color the sweater had been. 

"Oh yeah." Harry grinned at her, "I forgot you were wearing muggle clothing."

"It's better than having people stare at me while I walk the three blocks from home to the Leaky Cauldron." She explained, "I always change when I get to work."

"How's it going at the _Prophet_?" Harry asked, tapping the brick and waiting for the archway to open.

"Great! I did an interview with Minister Weasley about a week ago for yesterday's paper."

"I read it." Harry cut in as they walked down the cobbled, winding street. "Was Percy really that boring, or did you do that on purpose?"

"Hey!" She whacked him, playfully. " I can't help it if my subject matter is as dull as stale bread, but I tried to make it as interesting as possible. The sad thing is that Percy really isn't a bad Minister of Magic, he's just a really bad people person. Sometimes I wonder how Penny stands him."

"I guess she loves him." Harry answered. "Have you seen any of the other Weasley's lately?"

"Just Ginny. She popped by the _Prophet_ a couple days ago with an add about her latest fashion show and came to my office to say hi."

"I didn't even know she was back from Paris. I'll have to go see her. She's probably staying with Ron." Hermione nodded.

"That's what she told me. And she also said that she was heading down to The Burrow for two days and then up to Hogsmeade to see the twins before she goes to Milan." They had reached the ice-cream parlor by now and were sitting outside slurping two large cones.

"Wow. Who would have thought that designer Robes by Virginia' would be such a hit?" 

"Well, she's unique. No one else has ever done this, and she does it well. She gives wizards and witches the option to be fashionable without wearing muggle clothing, and she's fantastic at it." Hermione pointed out.

"Point taken. But," Harry said, "it's hard to believe she lives in London, because she's always somewhere else. I miss her."

Hermione smiled at him. "Hmmm. Is there something I should know about here?"

"Not yet." Harry said glumly, "But if she'll sit still long enough to let something develop, you'll be the first to know." She grinned. Just then a voice called across the square to them from Flourish and Blotts.

"Harry! Hermione!" They looked up to see a figure running towards them, carrying arm loads of shopping bags. Harry and Hermione stood up as Ginny Weasley reached their table, breathless. She was wearing robes of the deepest indigo blue with a hood that she left down for decoration.

"Gin!" said Harry, scooping her up into a hug. " We were just talking about you. I didn't even know you were back in town till Hermione told me." 

"Yeah, but not for long."

"That's what I said." Hermione answered, hugging Ginny as well. "We were just discussing your travel plans.

"Yeah. You must really be racking up frequent apparition miles." Harry said, grinning.

"Oh, you have no idea." Ginny moaned, dropping the bags and sitting down, "I think I could probably apparate in my sleep now. You guys will never believe this, but I was just on my way to see you both. I was going to drop this off at the _Prophet_ offices for you Hermione," she gestured to one of the bags, "and then go visit you at work, Harry."

"I took a personal day." Hermione explained.

"And I'm on my lunch break." Harry put in. "What's in the bag?"

"Oh yeah! I brought these with me from Paris, Hermione, because I knew they'd be perfect for you. I had you in mind when I designed them." She handed over the bag.

Hermione opened it and pulled out chestnut brown robes made of a breezy linen fabric that seemed to float, rather than fall. They had a V-neck in the front to accentuate her collarbone and the color perfectly matched her hair.

"Oh Ginny! They're gorgeous! I love them! You have a calling!" Hermione said giving Ginny another hug.

"They are pretty lovely." Harry said.

"Wow! That's high praise!" Ginny joked, punching him lightly on the shoulder. "Harry Potter said my robes were lovely! A guy, no less!"

The three laughed. "So what's up with you two?" She asked.

"Well, Hermione is going on a blind date with a boring, muggle accountant whose name she can't remember." Harry said, grinning.

"Really? When?" Ginny asked.

"Here we go again!" Hermione groaned.

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~ Chapter 2 ~

Hermione hummed to herself as she got ready for her date with David Sloane. It would just be a nice dinner at a nice restaurant and then he would take her home- two hours of torture, at the most- so why was she humming? Probably because it felt so good to be going out _with_ someone, even if that someone wasn't Ron. She had to stop thinking like that- they were over. They had split up for good months ago. After that fight, there was no going back, was there? She shook her head, as though to rid herself of those thoughts and pulled on her earrings. She remembered the day she'd been given them

"Hermione! Congratulations, that was a wonderful speech." Molly Weasley hurried up to her, a small package clasped in her hand.

"Thanks! I thought Harry did very well, too. I can't believe we're all Hogwarts graduates now!"

"Don't I know it! It seems like just yesterday that I was sending Ron and Harry onto the Hogwarts Express for the first time. I feel like I'm losing three babies." She began to tear up.

"Don't cry, Mrs. Weasley!" Hermione exclaimed, hugging the older woman, "You're not losing any of us. Ron, Harry, and I will always be best friends, and we'll be coming to the Burrow for visits at all hours of the day and night- just you wait and see!" That earned her a smile. Molly dried her eyes and said, "Oh. I almost forgot, your graduation present." She held out the neatly wrapped box, which Hermione took and opened. Inside was a pair of mother-of-pearl earrings that dangled about one inch below the clasp and sparkled when the light hit them. "They were given to me by my grandmother on my graduation day. I have a pair from my mother for Ginny when she graduates, but I wanted my other daughter to have something special, too." At that Hermione burst into tears. "Oh, Mrs. Weasley. Thank you so much. I'll cherish them always."

And she had. They had always been her favorite earrings, and she always wore them on special occasions, but tonight she felt a twinge of guilt as she put them in. It felt wrong to wear Ron's mother's earrings on her date with another man. But then, she rationalized, this wasn't a real date- it was more of a pity dinner. She stepped back and surveyed her appearance in the mirror. Not bad- the blue/gray dress fell to just above her knees and complemented the earrings perfectly. Just then the doorbell rang. Hermione walked into her hall and pulled open the door, expecting to see well, certainly not expecting to see Harry and Ginny standing there. 

"Hey Mione! You look great." Harry kissed her cheek.

" Now, that's the only thing I like better about muggle clothes than ours." Ginny observed, "You can tell there's something under them! I mean how stupid would short robes look?" Hermione just gazed at them, feeling slightly dazed. 

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Well, tonight's the date with ol whatshisname, the boring muggle accountant, right?" She rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Well, I have to make sure he's not an ax-murderer, don't I? That and I want to see him. And Ginny's going to keep me company."

"We're going to watch movies and eat popcorn till you get back! It's my last night in London, doesn't that sound like fun?" She went off into the kitchen, apparently to make the popcorn. Hermione had been about to respond that they'd only have time for one movie if she had anything to say about it, when the doorbell rang again. This time Harry pulled open the door to reveal a thirtyish, rather short, man, only slightly taller than Hermione's 5 feet 8 inches, with flaming red hair. He looked a little flustered to find an extra occupant of the flat where he was supposed to pick up his date. "My my name is David Sloane. I'm here to pick up Hermione Granger. Does she live here?" 

"She does indeed. I'm Harry Potter." Harry smiled charmingly, but as the man had to crane his neck to really see it, it just seemed to make him more nervous.

" Mione!" Harry called over his shoulder into her bedroom, where Hermione had disappeared to in search of her coat. "David's here!" She hurried out, shoving her arm into one of the sleeves of a wool jacket and pecked Harry on the cheek. 

"Thanks. Bye Ginny!" she called

"See you!" came the answer, out of the kitchen.

As they walked down the hall, all Hermione could think was Why did he have to have red hair?' and At least he's short- Ron's anything but short.' 

They climbed into his car and were driving down the street when David finally spoke, "I have a cousin called Ginny. Well, second cousin really, but I don't know anyone called Harry." 

"Mmmm?" Hermione said, disinterestedly, until she realized she'd completely forgotten about introductions- for all poor David knew, she and Harry could be sleeping together. "Well, Harry and I have been best friends since we were eleven." And Ron, she thought, but didn't mention him, "He's really like a big brother to me. And Ginny, she's a good friend of both of us. She was a year younger in school."

"Well, let me tell you a little about myself." David began, as he pulled into the car park of the restaurant, and recounted the most boring tale about accounting that Hermione had heard since her interview with Percy last week It wasn't until they had ordered and been served that he started in on the topic of family. "Well as I told you, I have a second cousin named Ginny. She's part of a large family on my mother's side, and they're really my only relatives. My parents are both dead, and 

I haven't got any other family. I haven't even seen them for about twenty or so years, when Ginny was a baby. They live down in Cornwall. Between you and I, they're a bit strange." It was this comment that caught Hermione's attention. 

"Why don't you tell me about them?" She suggested, in what she hoped was a silky voice. Scooping up a bit of her tiramisu on a fork. (Dessert had been served by now.)

"Well," David agreed, since she finally seemed interested in something he'd said, "They have seven kids, Arthur and Molly do." Hermione choked on the cake. 

"I know! Seven!" David said, clearly misreading what had happened, but Hermione shook her head.

"David. I think I'm going to be sick. No it's nothing you did- I just shouldn't have had dessert. Would you please take me home?"

If there was one thing David seemed practiced at it was ending a date abruptly. He summoned the _maitre-d_, paid the bill, pulled the car around, and had Hermione home within twenty minutes. He helped her upstairs and turned her over to a clearly shocked Harry, said he would call, and left.

"What on earth happened?" Harry asked as Ginny went to get a cold compress. When she returned with it, it was to Ginny that Hermione spoke. "Ginny, you don't happen to have a muggle cousin, do you?"

"Well, yeah, now that you mention it. David Sloane- he's an account" Her eyes grew wide with understanding. "Oh my God! That wasn't" Harry, who'd already understood from the minute the words David Sloane' left Ginny's mouth, seemed to think the whole thing was hysterical. 

"You mean you actually went on a date with Ron and Ginny's muggle cousin without even knowing it?" 

"Well, I did know it in the end They have seven kids, Arthur and Molly do.'- I almost choked to death on my tiramisu!" Harry burst out laughing, as did Ginny.

"No wonder the poor guy has such trouble on dates if all he can think of to talk about is us!" She said, cracking up. Even Hermione smiled at that, and pretty soon the three friends were in hysterics over what Hermione would later fondly call the blind date from hell'.

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~ Chapter 3 ~

Knock! Knock! Harry wrapped his knuckles on the door.

"Hang on Harry. I have a key in heresomewhere." Ginny said rummaging through a large purse. As Harry raised his hand to knock again, the door was yanked open, by a very rumpled, very disgruntled Ron.

"Oh good! You're awake." Harry said as Ginny glided past him and her brother into the apartment.

"Well, _now_ I am." Ron said, clearly implying that he hadn't been before, and had preferred it that way. Harry followed Ginny into the apartment as Ron closed the door.

"Would you mind telling me what you two are doing, waking me up at this hour?"

"Ron, it's only 11:30." Ginny pointed out. 

"Well, I had an incredibly long day, but that's not the point." He turned to Harry, "You knew she had a key, so you must have woken me up for some reason. Now what is it, so I can go back to sleep?"

Harry grinned at him, "Relax! You're going to love this one. Do you know where we went tonight?"

"To Hermione's, right?"

"Yeah." Said Ginny, "but not to see Hermione, so Harry could see her date."

"Date?" Ron winced at the word, but recovered quickly. "Are you sure you're supposed to be telling me this?"

"Absolutely not." Harry piped up, "But it's so hysterical, we couldn't bear the thought of you missing it."

"Hysterical, huh?" Ron raised his eyebrows, "Okay- shoot."

"Well, last week one of Mione's old muggle friends asked her, as a favor, to go on a blind date with one of her fiancé's coworkers. Being the generous soul that she is, Mione agreed." Harry began.

"The guy was a muggle." Ginny picked up, " And an accountant. That's all she could remember about him, so we went around all week calling him the boring, muggle accountant. Little did we know how right we were."

"So, anyway, Ginny and I decided to go to Hermione's last night and check the guy out." Harry jumped in, "Kind of like" He trailed off searching for a word.

"Chaperones from a distance?" Ron supplied.

"Precisely. We were going to watch movies and eat popcorn there, till she got back."

"It was just sooner than we expected." Ginny put in.

"Much sooner." Harry agreed, "But we're getting ahead of ourselves. So anyway, we arrived and Hermione was wearing this gray thing."

"_Blue_-gray. A muggle dress, cut just above the knee." Said Ginny, looking pained at his butchering of fashion.

"Yeah, whatever." Harry said "And when she went to get her coat out of the bedroom, the doorbell rang. I opened the door and there was this guy who couldn't have been taller than five-nine, with hair remarkably like yours. He was around thirty, and reminded me distinctly of Neville, he was so nervous. I think the fact that I was there threw him off a bit. So he introduced himself, I introduced myself, Ginny was making popcorn in the kitchen, and then Hermione came out and off they went." 

"Then, when we were only halfway through _The Sixth Sense_, she came home." Ginny said. "I mean we knew she was planning on an early night, but _that_ early? The guy, who I had still not seen, dropped her off with Harry, and left. I went to get a cold compress, because she looked kind of ill, but when I got back with it, she asked me the weirdest question. She said: Ginny, you don't happen to have a muggle cousin, do you?'"

At this a look of horror, mixed with shock and amusement crossed Ron's face. "She didn't. It wasn't Not David!" He spluttered.

"She did, it was, and yes, David." Harry answered, grinning

"How on earth did she find out?"

"Well apparently he was going on about his cousin named Ginny in the car, and when they got to the restaurant he happened to mention that she came from a large, slightly odd, family. So Hermione asked what were they like, and the first words out of his mouth were Well, they have seven kids, Arthur and Molly do.'" Ron's jaw dropped.

"I know!" Harry said, "Hermione choked on her dessert!"

Ron closed his mouth quickly, "Is she okay?" He asked looking concerned.

"She's fine. In shock, but fine." Harry assured him, "You might want to give David a call, though. He looked pretty disappointed to me."

"As long as she's okay." Ron said, ignoring the David comment. Harry raised his eyebrows, but didn't comment.

"Well, I'd better get going. It's late and you're taking the early train down to Ottery St. Catchpole, aren't you, Ginny?"

"Yeah. I need a rest from all that apparating, but I'll see you soon, I'm sure."

"I hope so, but if not, good luck with the fashion show. I'm sure you'll do great." He said, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks. Good night, Harry."

"Yeah, night Harry." Ron added

" Night guys. Safe trip, Ginny. Give your parents my love."

"Will do." She said and he left.

* * *

The next morning Hermione dragged herself out of bed and into work with some effort. On her desk sat piles of papers. Suggestions for stories, assignments for stories, and feedback from the readers, all waiting for the _Daily Prophet's_ chief reporter to wade through them. She sat down and began to read. An hour and a half later, when she had made a sizeable dent in the pile, she went to look at the assignment board and see what she was up for today.

ReporterAssignmentDate

Celestina Warbeck Weird Sisters Charity Concert10/04

Lavender Brown Robes by Virginia' Fashion show10/09

Colin Creevy Photography on fashion show10/09

Martha Daegluss Former DADA teachers of Hogwarts 10/14

Hermione Granger Birth of Minister Weasley's fourth child ???

Roger Davies Cannons vs. Wasps Quidditch Match10/17

That's right!' She remembered, Penny's pregnant again!' She grabbed her notepad and purse and walked out of the offices, but instead of apparating to the ministry, to talk to Percy, she went straight to his and Penny's large house in the country. As she stood on the porch, having just rang the bell, she could hear the pitter patter of little feet racing towards the door. 

"Kids, be careful!" Penny's voice called out the door was flung open by six year old Molly, their oldest child. She was accompanied by her younger brother, Devon, who was four. 

"Auntie Mione! Auntie Mione!" Molly crowed when she saw who was at the door.

"Hey kiddos!" Hermione said, wrapping them both in a hug. For as long as Molly'd been able to talk, she'd been Auntie Mione'. She supposed it had something to do with the fact that up until a few months ago, she'd usually come to see the children with Uncle Ron' and in their lives, adults came in pairs. Of course, they called Harry Uncle Harry' and he didn't come to see them with anyone else- though Lord knew he'd been half of quite a few "pairs"; but none had stuck, and none had been special enough to bring to visit the children. 

"Hermione! How nice to see you!" Penny had, with some difficulty, managed to maneuver her nine-months-pregnant self out of her chair and into the hall. 

"Hi Penny! It's good to see you, too. You didn't have to get up, though. Come on back into the kitchen." She said and guided her back into a spacious, light and airy room, with a variety of toys scattered around and Crayola masterpieces on the refrigerator. There was no doubt that children lived here. It was a relaxing room, perfect for Penny and Percy, since they both needed somewhere to relax, for different reasons.

Penny seemed to be doing just that as she sat back in a chair and asked, "So what brings you to our neck of the woods?"

"My flawless apparition skills." Hermione joked, "But actually, I'm here for work. Guess who got the assignment to cover Birth of Minister Weasley's fourth child'?"

"Not you, again! I'm sorry, Hermione. I know you've done this three times already, and you'd probably rather work on something new and exciting, but I'm actually glad it's going to be you. I'm comfortable with you- we're like sisters, so I don't mind having you around and answering your questions after a long delivery, too much." She smiled.

"Well I'm glad to hear that. And I don't really mind this assignment, cause I get to hang out with you and the kids, and even Percy once in awhile. By the way, where's Claire?" Three year old Claire was Percy and Penny's youngest child. 

"She's down for her nap, and hopefully she'll stay that way for awhile. I don't feel like navigating those stairs again. 

"Don't worry. I'll hang out here under the pretence of work, and when she wakes up, I'll go get her."

"You're a saint."

"Not really. If you saw the paperwork waiting for me back at my office, you'd want to stay here too." They laughed and talked for about an hour, until lunchtime. 

"So what have you got that I can make for lunch?"

"You don't have to do that." Penny protested.

"I know I don't, but I'm going to anyway. Hermione said, sticking her head in the refrigerator, "You've got stuff for chicken stir-fry, here. Do have any rice?" 

* * *

Ron sat at his desk going over a case briefing. The nameplate on the door to his office said Ronald Weasley, Head of M. L. E. S. squad 14'. Ron didn't really see the point in this for two reasons- 1. He was almost never in his office, as there weren't many perps to be caught in there, and 2. Anyone who was coming to see him would know what his job was, so why advertise it? It was embarrassing, really, being the youngest squad leader in umpteen years. He was always being teased good naturedly by his colleagues, not that that bothered him. After growing up in the same house as Fred and George Weasley, you got so used to being teased that it was second nature. No, what really bothered him about his job was not the job itself, but when he'd been promoted to it- only two days after his break-up with Hermione, not quite three months ago. He hadn't been able to feel happy about it for a long time, and here she was going out on blind dates! Hang on, where did that thought come from? He wondered, but really he knew. Logically he knew that he had absolutely no right to be jealous of anyone Hermione went out with anymore. She was a free woman, now. Hadn't she been a free woman then, too? That's what had started the whole thing in the first place

They'd been living together for months, and for the sixth night in a row, Ron had come home to an empty apartment. He knew where she was- at the _Prophet _offices. It wasn't that he didn't trust her not to cheat- he did, with all his heart. What he didn't trust her to do was take care of herself. Hermione had always gotten too wrapped up in work for her own good- after all, remember that time turner fiasco in third year? She'd finally come home at nine o'clock and he'd asked why she was so late. He'd started it. He admitted that, but all he was trying to do was get her to stop working herself to the bone. There had been a huge fight, with name calling, accusation slinging; the neighbors must have felt like they had their own personal soap opera. It culminated in Mione packing her clothes in a rage and storming out, saying she was going to live with Harry until she could find her own apartment.

And she had, as far as Ron knew. Harry had told him bits and pieces, but it was clear that he thought this was their business, and he didn't want to be in the middle, so Ron had done his best not to put him there. Other acquaintances would mention her in passing to him, possibly knowing about the break-up, possibly not. Ron was suddenly jolted from his daydreams when his owl, Pigwidgeon, tapped him sharply on his forehead, dropping a letter on his lap. 

"Ouch, Pig! Oh, thanks." He unrolled the parchment and recognized the letterhead immediately- it was Ministry of Magic stationary- a letter from the minister himself.

"What is it this time, Percy?" Ron groaned just a little. Ever since Penny had become pregnant again, Percy seemed to think the whole world was conspiring to kidnap her or something. He also seemed to think that M.L.E.S. had nothing better to do than guard her twenty-four/seven. It didn't seem to matter to Percy that Penny and the children had a private bodyguard- every once in awhile he'd get nervous and call M.L.E.S. Ron, in particular, as Percy's brother and M.L.E.S's most accomplished agent, got these summons fairly often. Much to Ron's amusement, they seemed to drive Penny as nuts as they did him, but she put up with them, because they seemed to calm Percy's nerves. He looked down at the note. It said:

_Ministry of Magic_

From the desk of Minister

Percival Weasley

Dear Ron-

I just got a notice saying someone had apparated to our house that wasn't cleared to be there. Would you mind going and checking on Penn and the kids? Thanks!

-Percy

* * *

"Ummm. Stir-fry. Heaven. I was wrong. You're not a saint, you're an angel." Penny said and Hermione laughed as she began chopping chicken and vegetables, while warming olive oil in a frying pan. Just when she was about to drop in the vegetables, the doorbell rang. 

"I'll get that." Hermione said hurriedly, noticing Penny starting to get up. She headed out into the front hall with Devon close at her heals. They had left Molly playing in her my sized kitchen' near her mother.

She opened the door to the last person she expected to see standing there. He clearly hadn't been expecting her to be there either.

"Ron?"

"Hermione?"

"What are you doing here?" They both asked simultaneously as Devon squealed, "Uncle Ron! Uncle Ron!" This apparently got through to Ron, because he grinned, said "Hey, Dev!", picked up Devon, and held him upside down, which made the toddler squeal even more, bringing, Molly in from the kitchen. "Uncle Ron! Uncle Ron!" She flung herself at his legs. At this, a wail came from upstairs. 

"Claire's up!" Hermione said. "Would you get her, please? I've got stuff cooking in the kitchen, and I don't want Penny to have to get up."

"Sure." he said, still looking confused at her presence, but he headed up the stairs with Molly and Devon, while Hermione, shaken, went back into the kitchen.

"Ron's here." She said, in a daze, to Penny.

"I heard. Are you going to be okay?" 

"Of course! Hermione answered indignantly, "I'm an adult, he's and adult, at least I think he's an adult."

"Hermione, talking like that will get you absolutely nowhere." Penny sounded like she was addressing one of her children.

"I know, and I m sorry." She said, tossing the vegetables into the pan with a sizzle, "It's just difficult. But, of course I'll be all right. It would be horrible if we couldn't ever be friends again, after what happened."

But in truth, this was actually exactly what Hermione was thinking, Could they ever be friends again? So much had been said and done. Could they ever be anything again?' 

At this moment Ron entered the kitchen carrying a refreshed looking Claire. He kissed Penny on the cheek saying, "Hi, Penn. How's it going?"

"Great, thanks. Hermione the angel's making me lunch." He laughed. "Well, I'm sure it'll be great." Then he turned to Hermione, "Hermione, did you apparate here?"

She looked up, after tossing the chicken in the pan, surprised. "Of course. Why?"

"Well that must have been it, but it doesn't make sense." He said, handing Penny the note he'd received.

"Uh-oh. Percy's at it again." She said, a smile playing on her lips.

"Aren't you registered to apparate here, Hermione?" He asked

"Yes. You were with me when we got registered for all those secured premises. Here, the ministry, Harry's office, your office. Don't you remember?"

"That's just it, I do remember. There must have been a glitch in the system, but I don't see how. Somehow you must have set it off when you apparated and Percy freaked."

"Not again!" Hermione laughed, "He did that paranoia thing before Claire was born, too!"

"And Devon." Said Ron.

"And Molly." Put in Penny.

"Some things will never change." Hermione sighed.

"Would you like to stay for lunch, Ron?" Penny invited in a stroke of inspiration. Hermione looked at her, both apprehensive and anxious, but Ron shook his head.

"Love to, but sorry Penn, I can't. I've got to get back to work." Hermione's face fell, a little, but he didn't see it, "Besides, are you sure there'll be any left when you and junior finish?" He teased.

"Haha, very funny." She said sarcastically, pretending to pout, but then she smiled, "Next time, then."

"Yes, next time."

"I'll walk you out." Hermione offered.

"Okay." He said, quickly giving all three kids a hug and a kiss, and doing the same to Penny.

"Well, back to the grindstone."

"Yeah- actually I'm already at the grindstone. I'm covering the birth of this one, too, for the _Prophet_. I love my job." She said with a smile trying to lighten the atmosphere. It worked, sort of- he laughed and said "That's great Mione. Bye." And was gone. It was the first time he'd used her nickname in months.

~ Chapter 4 ~

As Harry browsed through the aisles of Flourish and Blotts, looking for a children's book for Devon's fifth birthday, he didn't even hear the footsteps behind him. 

"Looking for reading material, are we?" Hermione asked with a grin, looking at the copy of _Winnie the Pooh_ in his hand. 

"That was so funny I forgot to laugh." Harry shot back with a smile, "Actually, I'm here looking for Devon's birthday present. It's coming up, you know."

"Yeah. That's why I'm here, too. So, are you going to the party, Uncle Harry?"

"Absolutely! How about you, Auntie Mione?"

"Yes, of course. How could I miss it?"

"Well, I think I'll get him a toy broom or something. Books aren't particularly exciting to a five year old." Harry said, setting down the book.

Hermione shot him a dirty look, "Well, if you're not going to get it for him, I will. This is a classic. With moving pictures and everything."

"Are you sure he wouldn't like a nice copy of _Hogwarts, A History_ instead? After all, that way he could get an early start on his studying." Harry said innocently. Hermione whacked him with the book.

"Very funny. Do you have any idea how many times that book saved our skins at school? Do you?" She asked accusingly.

"I do! I do!" Harry said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. "Come on. Why don't you go pay for that and I'll walk you back to the _Prophet_." 

"Sounds good to me." She said and they made their way up to the cashier's desk. They got in line behind a shortish girl, with long, blonde curls, and an armload of books. Suddenly, as she adjusted one, the whole pile went crashing to the floor.

"Oh no!" She moaned. Harry and Hermione quickly helped her gather them up, and before she could say more than a hurried Thank-you', it was her turn to check out.

Hermione paid for her book and she and Harry headed out the door, into Diagon Alley.

* * *

As Ron strolled through Diagon Alley on his lunch break he was thinking about many things. He wondered how Ginny was doing with Fred and George- if he remembered correctly, she'd leave them tomorrow and head back to Milan to prepare for her up-coming fashion show, but she'd promised to be back for Devon's birthday party the following week. Unfortunately, Ron had to work that day, but he was planning to go over in the evening for cake and ice cream and to give Devon his present. He'd finally decided on an enforcer's badge and a play- wand for disarming criminals' (a.k.a. his sisters). The wand wouldn't do more than shoot harmless sparks at the intended victim, but Ron knew Devon would enjoy it anyway. As he walked along, past the ice-cream parlor, he didn't notice the blonde girl in a rush with a stuffed bag from Flourish and Blotts, and judging by what happened next, she hadn't seen him either.

"Ooof!" Ron grunted as she ran into him. He reached out to stop her from falling, but couldn't do much for the piles of books that were already around their ankles.

"Oh! Not again!" she wailed, "I'm so sorry, I wasn't watchingwas in such a hurry" She stooped to gather the fallen books.

"Hey, no harm done." He assured her and bent down to help. Suddenly she looked up and surprised registered on her face.

"Ron Weasley?"

"Ummm. Do I know you?" He asked awkwardly, wracking his brain for a memory of her. Old case? No, that wasn't it. Hogwarts? Maybe, couldn't tell.

"Ariel Nott." She said sticking out her hand. "We were in the same year at Hogwarts. I was a Hufflepuff."

"Oh. Nice to see you again, Ariel. How'd you recognize me?"

"Well, I saw your picture in the _Daily Prophet_ a few weeks ago and recognized the name. It was some story about a double murder"

* * *

As Hermione and Harry left Flourish and Blotts they headed down Diagon Alley, and were met by an interesting sight. There was Ron and the same girl who'd been in front of them in the bookstore, trying to gather up all her books which had, once again, spilled all over the place. Hermione automatically made to turn around and walk the other way, but Harry grabbed her arm. 

"Come on. He's just helping her with her books; we should help, too. She obviously needs it." As Hemione couldn't argue with that statement, she allowed Harry to pull her down the street.

" Hey, Harry! Hello Hermione." Ron greeted them. "This is Ariel Nott. She was in Hufflepuff in our year at Hogwarts. Ariel, this is Hermione Granger and Harry Potter."

It shocked Harry to realize this girl' was their age. She looked so young and innocent, but of course that could have been the height and curls. 

Her chocolatey brown eyes had opened wide upon hearing his name, and Hermione rolled hers as she asked, "Harry Potter? _The_ Harry Potter?" He smiled slightly and nodded. "I never guessed in the bookstore"

"It's nice to be formally introduced, Ariel." Harry said, sticking out his hand pointedly, to get off the topic of his name.

"Yes." Hermione echoed, doing likewise.

Ariel shook both their hands and with a lopsided grin turned to Ron; "I dumped my books all over them in line at the bookstore." She explained.

"I think you just need a bigger bag." Said Hermione, picking up the torn remnants of her old one. With a wave of her wand, she had replaced them with a new, visibly larger bag.

"Oh thanks!" Ariel exclaimed as they all stacked the books into it.

"No problem." Hermione said with a smile, "I've had my share of broken bags due to too many books." Harry and Ron grinned at each other, but she ignored them, "Well I'd better get back to work."

"Yes, I'd better be going, too." Ariel said, and headed off down the street. 

"I'll walk you Mione." Harry said, "I said I would, after all."

"No that's okay." She assured him, "How are Penny and the kids, Ron? No more illegal apparations there, I hope?"

"Two actually." He shook his head, "We think, or we hope, rather, that it's just some tabloid reporter, because once the guard saw someone across the grounds, and when he called out to them they looked scared and disapparated. Percy's beefed up their security, which is good. I wish we could put an anti-apparation spell on the place altogether, but since so many foreign dignitaries and Ministry officials visit, it just won't work. Hopefully the extra security will do it, though."

She nodded. "Well, I've got to go visit them sometime soon for the story, so I'll see how it's working out. Bye Harry, Ron."

"Bye." They replied.

* * *

"No Ginny! Don't eat that!" George called to his sister from the living room of the apartment he and Fred shared above their joke shop in Hogsmeade. Ginny, who was standing in their kitchen, pulled the custard cream she'd been about to bite into away from her mouth quickly.

"Why'd you warn me? She eyed her older brother suspiciously over the counter-peninsula that separated the two rooms.

"Because you're my favorite sister," he began.

"I'm your _only_ sister." She pointed out.

"Right. And because Mum would kill Fred and I if we turned you into a canary. Even temporarily."

At these words Ginny dropped the sweet into the sink abruptly. "I think I'll eat at the Three Broomsticks tonight." She said.

"Not a bad idea. You can treat us to dinner, o' famous fashion designer." Fred walked into the room.

She laughed, "Okay! Okay! I don't think I can take another night of your cooking anyway."

"I'm hurt. You didn't like my _souvlaki_ last night?"

"Let's just say you should stick to English food, shall we?" She smiled. "So when are we leaving?" George piped up.

"Now?" Fred suggested hopefully, rubbing his stomach.

"All right, already! Let's go."

Fifteen minutes later the three were seated at a table near the fireplace in Hogsmeade's pub, the Three Broomsticks, with plates of steaming food in front of them. 

"Thanks Rosemerta. That's lovely." Ginny said and the twins nodded.

"No problem, dear. It's good to see you, again. It's been too long. I'm always wearing those sparkly green robes you gave me last year. They're my favorites."

"I'm glad you like them. I designed them to match your shoes." Ginny answered pointing at the sequined pumps.

"Well thanks again." She teetered off.

"So Gin, are you going to see anyone else in Hogsmeade before you leave tomorrow?" George asked, biting into a fish stick.

"Yes. I wish I could see everyone, but I just don't have the time. I'm going to drop by Hogwarts after dinner, but I'll have to skip Sirius this time." (After his acquittal, five years earlier, Sirius Black had been working as a wizard defense attorney out of Hogsmeade.) "I lost two days since I added on the trip to visit Mum and Dad, but it was worth it. I hadn't seen them in a month."

"How were they?" Asked Fred, munching on his hamburger.

"Oh they're fine. You know- Dad asked how the train trip was and how many muggles I talked to, and Mum wanted to know all about Hermione and Ron and what the hell was wrong with those two- her words, not mine."

"What the hell _is_ wrong with those two?" George asked with raised eyebrows. "I mean they've been apart for around three months now. They've had fights before, but never like this. Do you think it's really over?"

"Oh who knows?" Ginny threw up her hands in exasperation, "Those two have the biggest communications problems since the battle of New Orleans." (A/N: The Battle of New Orleans was fought two weeks after the War of 1812 ended, but they didn't know so they just kept fighting.) "I can tell Ron misses her, and I think Hermione misses him, but will they ever get it together and make-up? Do I look like a divinator to you? I honestly don't know how Harry stands the two of them. It'd drive me nuts."

"How is old Harry?" Fred asked, with a glint in his eye.

Ginny ignored it though, and said, "He's fine. We hung out at Hermione's apartment one night- Oh! Wait till I tell you who she went on a blind date with!"

~ Chapter 5 ~

Hermione entered her office at _The Daily Prophet _lost in thought. There was something strange about these apparations at Penny and Percy's. As a reporter herself, she had doubts about Ron's theory. A tabloid reporter wouldn't have disapparated- they would have pumped the guard for information; but it didn't really fit the bill of a hard-core criminal or dark wizard either. They would have just disabled the guard and gone after what they wanted. The only explanation that made sense was that it was a small time thief who was surprised by the guard and fled. But no one could be so stupid as to assume that the Minister of Magic's house would be unguarded and unprotected, could they? That was it- she just didn't know. And after finding out that it was guarded, why come back? Why not just move on to your next mark? It didn't make sense. There was definitely something odd going on. Logically she knew she should leave the law enforcement to Harry and Ron- after all, they were trained professionals, but she was a professional, too. A professional investigative reporter, and she was sick of writing about births and deaths and charity functions in between. She missed the thrill of adventure she'd had back at school- fighting evil with her best friends at her side. That's what she'd been looking for in this job, a way to use her intellect and still get that thrill, every once in awhile. She could sense it now, and she wasn't going to let it slip away.

* * *

"Mrs. Weasley?" Penny started as her bodyguard addressed her.

"Yes, Joe?"

"Well, ma'am. We've been notified of another illegal apparation in the vicinity. If you could keep the children and yourself inside while we secure the premises and notify M.L.E.S., it would be very helpful.

"Not another! Yes, of course we'll stay right here, Joe." Oh well, she thought, I haven't seen Ron in while anyway. "Molly! Devon! Claire! Come downstairs please!" she heard the sound of six small pairs of feet padding down the staircase. They entered the kitchen in a group. 

"What is it Mum?" Molly asked.

"Just play in here for a little while, kids. Uncle Ron may be coming over, too."

"Yay! Uncle Ron!" Devon shouted, causing Claire to squeal with glee.

"Uncle Won! Uncle Won!" She giggled. Penny smiled down at her children warmly, and sure enough the doorbell rang. The kids raced into the hallway trailing cries of Uncle Ron' and Uncle Won' behind them. The door, however, was opened by a key before they reached it and Percy walked in, his face pale.

"Daddy!" Molly, the perceptive one, said, "You're not Uncle Ron!"

"No, but will I do?" He said, kissing the top of her head and tickling her brother and sister. Before she could answer the doorbell rang again. The shouts of Uncle Ron' began again, and Percy strode to the door and pulled it open, to find Hermione standing there. The children, disappointed once more, quieted. "Hi Percy! I didn't know you were home. Hey guys!" She said greeting the kids, "Where's Penny?" 

"In the kitchen." Percy answered. "There's been another illegal apparation here, so I came home right away. These three," He continued, gesturing at his children, "were expecting Uncle Ron and apparently you and I just aren't interesting enough." Hermione laughed, as a voice sounded behind her.

"Well of course you're not, Perce." Uncle Ron had at last arrived and Claire began squealing again. "Hey jellybean!" He said, scooping her up and using her nickname since infancy. Percy rolled his eyes at Hermione. 

"It's about time you got here. There was another apparation."

"Why do you think I'm here?" Ron said. "I know that. I've just been talking to the guards. Hi, Hermione." He added.

"Hi." She could feel her cheeks blush, but didn't know why. She didn't want to think about the possibilities, so she turned her attention to what he was saying.

"I think we've ruled out thief- no one is this persistent without at least making a break-in attempt- the tabloid thing is still a possibility- nothing's positive yet. We're still exploring a lot of leads." Hermione thought Percy looked like he was about to scream, and apparently 

Ron thought so, too, because as Percy opened his mouth, he cut him off.

"Perce. Go sit with your wife. This is tiring her out more than we can imagine, I'm sure. I'll take care of the case- you take care of Penny." Apparently this was the right thing to say because Percy just closed his mouth, nodded and walked into the kitchen. Hermione turned to Ron, who had set Claire down with her brother and sister.

"So, do you really think it's a tabloid reporter?" She asked.

"I don't know." He replied honestly, "I'd like to. I could sleep a lot easier at night if I believed it was, but I just don't know. The thing that doesn't make sense is motive. Money, maybe? The most controversial law Percy's ever passed was that one limiting the cauldron makers- the cauldrons had to be at least 5/8 of an inch thick, so I think we can rule out political activism. It would help if I knew what I was looking for a motive for."

"I don't think it's a tabloid person." Hermione blurted out.

"Really, why?" He asked, looking surprised.

"Because, as a reporter, you don't run away from a story, you run towards it. A reporter from a tabloid would have pumped the guard for information- not disapparated." 

"You know, you're right." He said nodding, "That doesn't make sense." 

She'd felt a tingle on her spine when he'd agreed with her. What was that?

"Are you coming to Devon's birthday party on Friday?" Where were these words coming from? It certainly couldn't be her mouth.

"No. I have to work. I'm going to drop off his present that evening. Are you going?" She could feel herself nodding.

"And Harry, too. I got him _The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh_."

Ron grinned. "Good book. Some things never change, Mione." There was that blasted nickname again. And others do. She thought sadly as he left.

* * *

On the afternoon of Devon's birthday, Hermione changed into casual robes, because she expected to be outdoors, and to get messy. She grabbed the wrapped book off her dresser as the doorbell rang. Harry and Ginny were waiting for her and she let them in- they were going to apparate to the party together. 

"Hi guys! How was the fashion show, Ginny?"

"A smashing success." She said, flashing her a grin, "What'd you get him? No, lemme guess a book?"

"Right in one!" Harry said grinning at her. Hermione made a face.

"It's a very good book- _Winnie the Pooh_. Perfect for a five year old."

"That's true." Ginny agreed, "I got him the Kwik-spell course book. You know, just in case." At Hermione's look of horror she burst out laughing. "Just kidding! I actually brought him an assortment of stuff from Fred and George's shop, but I'm just the messenger for that stuff. They're determined to give Percy gray hair- long distance." Hermione laughed, "And I designed him a mini-quidditch uniform for England, with someone we know and love's number." Harry blushed. He'd played quidditch for England for two years after Hogwarts, before leaving to become an auror, and was now part of the Quidditch Hall of Fame.

"That's so sweet. What about you, Harry?" She asked, eyeing the lumpy package in his hands. He sighed.

"Well, you try wrapping a toy broomstick! I went with that." He explained. "We'd better go, or we'll be late."

They all apparated to Penny and Percy's back yard and found tons of balloons, more kids, and two very frazzled parents waiting for them. Penny seemed to be taking a breather over by the apple-bobbing pool; Percy was totally out of his element trying to get the children to line up for face painting, which his mother was doing. She and Arthur had come up for the occasion. Ginny went over to relieve him of the task and Harry and Hermione headed over to help Penny.

"Hi Penn. Where do you want us?" Hermione asked.

"Harry! Hermione! Welcome! It's good to see someone over the age of six!" She grinned, "Just leave your presents on that table and take a game- flying fish and digging for knuts are open. Just keep an eye on the kids and have fun." Flying fish was a game where flying fish were let lose in a tent and the children got to try and catch one with nets for a pet, and digging for knuts was pretty self explanatory- it involved a sand pit and children with small, plastic shovels.

"Dibs on Flying fish!" Harry said, just as Hermione said "I want digging for knuts!" They grinned at each other and Penny laughed.

"Okay, go on, you two. Let me know if you need anything."

They both headed off to the games. Hermione sat next to the Weasley children's large sandbox and handed out mining pans and plastic spades to children who wanted to try their luck looking for the small bronze knuts and the occasional silver sickle, that were hidden in the sand for about thirty minutes. She watched Harry outside the tent across the yard take nets from countless children and herd their fish into a plastic bag filled with air. She watched him helping a little girl write her name on her plastic bag and turned as Arthur placed a hand on her shoulders. She jumped up and hugged him.

"Arthur! It's so good to see you and Molly!" 

"It's good to see you too, Hermione." He said, embracing her as well. Penny wanted me to ask you if you could go find Claire. It's time for cake and ice cream, and she seems to have wandered off somewhere. I'll get this lot ready." He said smiling at the children who were still up to their elbows in sand.

"Okay." Hermione said, climbing to her feet. "I'll meet you guys in the kitchen." And she walked off towards the house, calling Claire's name as she went. Claire wasn't in her room, or anywhere in the house so she searched the yard again, looping around back to the sandbox, asking Harry and Molly if they'd seen her. When all the other kids had been ushered into the house, Hermione realized the horrible truth: Claire was missing.

(A/N: There it was- my first ever cliffhanger. Pause here to absorb the effectWhat? You want to keep reading? But, but, Oh, okay- go ahead.)

~ Chapter 6 ~

As soon as she realized what had happened, Hermione set off for the house at a sprint. She raced in through the back door and grabbed Harry and Percy, who were nearest, pulling them into the dining room, away from the other children.

"'Mione, what is it?" Harry asked, as she panted for breath.

"It's Claire-" She gasped, "She's gone." Her words hit with roughly the force of a small hand-grenade. Harry got business-like and went into the kitchen to get Penny, Ginny, Arthur and Molly; while Percy went systematically nuts.

"She's _gone_? What do you mean, gone? Where is she? What happened? Where in God's name is my little girl?"

Penny and the others arrived just in time to hear his last words.

"Oh God." She clutched at her swollen stomach. "Claire's missing?"

Hermione nodded as Molly began to cry.

Harry came back in and said, "Okay. We have to stay calm. It's most likely that she just walked off and is at a neighbor's or something. We have twelve other little kids in there, who are going to get very scared and upset soon, if someone doesn't go do the cake and ice cream. Molly, why don't you take care of that. Arthur, you can help her." Mrs. Weasley dried her eyes, nodded and walked back into the kitchen with her husband. " Hermione. You, Ginny and I are going to search the neighborhood on foot- go get your cloaks." They nodded and walked off, towards the coat closet. "And Percy and Penny, you need to go to the local M.L.E.S. station and report the disappearance." Percy gave a small groan at the word, "It's possible that someone found her and she's already there, waiting for you." Penny nodded firmly, as though trying to convince herself that Harry's words were true. "Don't worry. We'll find her." He added, placing a hand on Percy's shoulder, and grasping Penny's hand. Then he walked off to go get Hermione and Ginny.

Penny and Percy looked at each other for an instant before apparating to their local Magical Law Enforcement Service station. The agent behind the desk looked up as they appeared. 

"Minister Weasley! How can we help you?" He asked, obviously surprised to find the Minister of Magic and his very pregnant wife in front of him.

Percy ignored his reaction and said, "Our daughter's missing. Who's in charge?"

The look on the young man's face changed immediately. "I am, sir. The other three agents at this station are out on calls. What's your daughter's name? How old is she? Do you have a photo of her with you?"

Penny, seeing the frantic look on her husband's face, spoke up, "Her name's Claire, she's three years old, here's a picture from last month." she pulled one out of her purse, "She seems to have wandered off during her older brother's birthday party. We have three other adults from the party out searching the neighborhood for her: Hermione Granger, Virginia Weasley, and Harry Potter." The agent's eyebrows rose at the mention of Harry's name, but seeing the look on Percy's face, decided wisely against commenting.

* * *

Ron sat in his office gazing across his desk at his visitor in surprise.

"Forgive me, Professor, but what are you doing here?" He asked.

Albus Dumbledore, however, did not seem offended- he seemed amused. In fact, he chuckled at Ron's question. "I am in London on Hogwarts business, Mr. Weasley, and I decided to drop by the Auror's offices and visit Harry. However, he seems to have the day off so I thought I'd see how my former student, and current youngest Magical Law Enforcement Service squadron leader is doing." Ron blushed at the mention of his job.

"Well, I'm doing fine, thank-you. Harry's at my nephew's birthday party. So is Hermione, in case your next stop was going to be the _Prophet_. I had to work, but I'm going over this evening."

"Ah, yes. Devon, isn't it?" Dumbledore smiled, "Percy's son?" 

Ron nodded, "Yes. He turns five today. Ginny's there as well."

"Yes. I saw your sister during her recent visit to Hogsmeade. She popped by the school to say hello and let us know how you all were. We rarely see any of you anymore." He sighed, "Except of course for your twin brothers. I see them frequently and their joke shop, I'm told, is even more popular with the students than Zonko's used to be in your school days." His eyes twinkled, "They are most kind about sending me gifts. Why, just last week I received a whole box of complementary lemon flavored canary creams. Unforunately, one does get rather tired of turning oneself into a canary, so I offered one to Professor McGonagall. Alas. It did not go over well."

Ron laughed, "She wasn't too pleased when Fred tried that in his seventh year, either- it probably brought back bad memories."

Suddenly the 'gabbaphone' on his desk glowed blue. He hit the 'receive' button and listened as Jim in the lobby told him he had a message for him.

"If you'll excuse me, Professor?"

"Of course, of course." Said Dumbledore, waiting patiently.

* * *

Meanwhile, Harry, Hermione and Ginny had split up and were knocking on doors, calling Claire's name and stopping joggers, asking if they'd seen a little girl, red curls, about 'so' high? And all getting the same frustrating answer.

"No, sorry." Shakes head, "I'll let you know if I do, though." After the sixth of these, Ginny felt like hitting her head into the fellytone pole she was leaning against. (Although she knew they were called 'telephone' poles, she'd never been able to shake the habit of using Ron's old nickname for the muggle device.) The thoughts that were running through her head gave her an idea of the horror and hysteria Percy and Penny must have been dealing with. Where was Claire now? Was she safe? Was she scared? Was she warm enough?

* * * 

In fact, Claire was all of those things, including confused. She was walking down a street she didn't recognize with a woman she didn't know, who kept asking her a lot of questions.

"What's your name?"

"Claire."

"Claire what?" She didn't answer.

"What's your mum's name?"

"Mummy."

Ariel sighed. She'd just have to take her to M.L.E.S headquarters. The kid obviously was not interested in spilling the beans.

"What's your Dad's name?"

"Daddy." Predictable. The child simply didn't know what she was asking.

"When's time for cake?" Claire gazed up at her with big blue eyes, her mother's eyes.

"Cake?" Ariel asked as they climbed the stairs to the door of M.L.E.S headquarters, slowly. Claire had to take them one at a time.

"Devon's cake." She said by way of explanation.

When they finally reached the door, and pulled it open, the agent nearest them was speaking into a what appeared to be a grammaphone, but must have been an inter office communication system. 

"Ron. Could you come down here? Someone named 'H. Granger' left a message for you." 

"Sure. Be right there." Came a voice over the other end. As the agent flipped a switch on the machine, Ariel approached his desk.

"Excuse me. I was out for a walk near Willow Brook," she began, mentioning the name of Percy and Penny's exclusive neighborhood, "And I found this little girl walking" She was cut off as Ron walked up behind the man's desk. "What've you got for me Jim? Oh, hi Ariel." He said as he took the note, "What brings you here?" The desk blocked his view of Claire. He read the note and his face paled to several shades of gray. "Oh God. She's missing."

Ariel, in an attempt to answer his earlier question picked up Claire and said, "She brings me here, but I don't know who she is" She trailed off, because Ron was not listening and Claire had begun to squeal.

"Uncle Won!"

"Jellybean! Where on earth did you find her?" He asked taking Claire in his own arms. And Ariel related the story to him as well. 

"Come up to my office while I call Penny and Percy. They'll want to thank you personally. And there's someone there that I'm sure you'll remember."

* * *

Hermione had returned to the house Claire-less and her hope fading quickly. Harry and Ginny were still out looking, but they'd agreed she should go back and relieve Molly and Arthur so they could go notify the muggle police- just in case. She walked through the front door wearily dragging her feet, to find all the children settled in front of a video: 'Annie the Animagus'. She found Arthur and Molly drinking tea in the kitchen and answered their unasked questions with a shake of her head. 

"I'd better call Ron and let him know. I'm sure M.L.E.S. headquarters will want to be informed." She picked up the telephone and left him a message with someone in the lobby. Then she sat down and explained what they were to do. As they were putting their cups in the sink the phone rang. Hermione jumped up and grabbed it.

"Hello?"

"Hermione?"

"Oh, it's you, Ron. I don't know what happened. I was watching all the kids dig for knuts and then Arthur said Penny asked if I'd go find her, and I searched and I searched, but she's gone! Oh, Ron she's gone!" She dissolved into tears for the first time since realizing Claire's disappearance, hours ago. Ron, who hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise, did so now.

"'Mione, it's okay! Don't cry. Claire's with me. Ariel found her and just brought her in! She safe and happy, and decidedly disappointed that she missed the cake and ice cream."

Hermione stopped crying abruptly, "She's with you?" Molly dropped the mug she'd been drying with a crash. "She's safe? She's okay?"

"She's fine." He assured her.

"You call Penny and Percy at this M.L.E.S. station, I'm going to find Harry and Ginny and we'll be there as soon as we can." She said, hanging up. She spun around to face the Weasleys, 

"She's with Ron! Someone found her and brought her to headquarters You stay here, we'll bring her right home." She threw her arms around each of them in turn and raced out of the house to find Harry and Ginny. They were heading up the driveway, looking sad. She ran down to them, yelling, "Claire's with Ron! We've got to apparate there. NOW!"

"They barely had time to look surprised before they all popped up in the lobby of M.L.E.S headquarters. Harry flashed his Auror's I.D. at a guard who tried to block their way and they ran up the two flights of stairs, following him to Ron's office. Harry pushed open the door to find Ariel Nott, deep in conversation with Albus Dumbledore, and Ron, behind his desk with Claire on his lap. Ginny rushed over to them and wrapped Claire in a hug. Hermione might have done the same, but the sight of Ariel seemed to subdue her. There was something about the girl that bothered her. Maybe it just was the gratitude in Ron's eyes whenever he looked at her, but it bothered her all the same. 

Harry spoke first. "Professor_ Dumbledore?_" He asked, shocked.

Dumbledore chuckled, again. "Hello, Harry. I went to visit you at work as well, but you weren't in."

"I might as well have been- that was as stressful as a day at work." He said, smiling at Claire, "What brings you to London, Professor?" But before Dumbledore could answer, Penny and Percy burst in. Penny took Claire from Ginny and Ron, started weeping, and just rocked her back and forth saying, "My baby, My baby." Percy asked Ron what on earth had happened and one explanation later, a very grateful Percy was shaking Ariel's hand repeatedly and thanking her profusely. 

Ron said, "Ariel, if you ever need _anything_ just come to me. I'd be glad to help." As Percy made her a similar offer, everyone beamed at her. No one noticed Hermione standing in the corner, scowling at her; no one except Professor Dumbledore.

~ Chapter 7 ~

"So, Albus. How was London?" Minerva McGonagall, sat in the Hogwarts headmaster's office enjoying a cup of tea after her last class of the day.

"Well, the ministry was as eventful as usual, it looks like Ms. Eloise Midgeon will indeed get the job. I'll have to go back for a second evaluation fairly soon. But I also went to visit Harry Potter. You do remember Harry, don't you?" He asked, a smile twitching his lips, knowing perfectly well what her response would be.

"Of course I remember Harry Potter! He was only the most famous student I've ever had, and he could vie with a few others for the most troublesome as well!" Minerva said, a tad peevishly. Harry Potter indeed! He'd be rather hard to forget

"Yes. Well, I dropped by the Auror's offices in the hopes of catching him in for a chat. Had a few things to discuss with him... but he had the day off, so I decided to go see Ronald Weasley at M.L.E.S headquarters. You know he's their youngest squad leader in"

"I know!" Minerva said pointedly.

"Of course. Well, we were having a lovely chat about that time you ate one of his brother's canary creams and"

She groaned, "I think I've relived that particular memory one too many times, thank you."

He smiled, "And his gabbaphone glowed blue- indicating an incoming message. He had to go down to the lobby and receive it. When he returned he was accompanied by two people and some rather astonishing news. Ariel Nott; you do remem-"

"I remember Ariel Nott!" She snapped.

"She had discovered young Claire Weasley wandering around during her afternoon stroll and brought her into M.L.E.S. It was very handy Ron happened to be in the lobby when she did. Not ten minutes after they arrived a very frantic Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter burst in. They were, needless to say, quite surprised to find me there. Then Penelope and Percy, the distraught parents arrived. Poor Penelope could only hold Claire and cry while everyone else was showering Ariel with praise. Everyone with one notable exception: Hermione Granger. Why do you suppose that is, Minerva?"

"Oh, I don't know! Hermione's in a different league from Ariel. Always has been. But if everyone was happy with Ariel, maybe she's just jealous."

"I think, my dear Minerva, that you just hit the nail on the head." He said, holding out a plate, "Custard cream?" 

* * *

Almost a week after Devon's disastrous birthday party, Hermione sat in her office chatting on the telephone with one of her sources at the ministry about the upcoming appointment for a ministry official working as a magical liason with Transylvania. 

"So who does it look like it's going to be?" She was saying into the receiver in her hand. "Eloise Midgeon? Never! I was at school with her."

"Well, there's a rumor flying around the office that the Minister's just doing it to get her out of _our_ ministry. She's such a horrible gossip, you know."

"That's terrible! Percy'd never do that, would he? I mean, sure sometimes he can be a bore, but never mean-spirited."

"Who says it's mean spirited? I've heard Transylvania's lovely in the summertime."

"I'll bet." Hermione snorted, "Oops. I've got to go." She hung up as her someone knocked on her office door. "Come in."

Much to her surprise, Albus Dumbledore opened it. 

"Professor! I thought you'd gone back to Hogwarts."

"Indeed I had, Ms. Granger, but I had to return in connection with an evaluation of a former student of mine who is up for an important post with the ministry. It's good to see you again. I hope I'm not interrupting."

"You could never interrupt, Professor. And it's lovely to see you again, as well. I heard about Eloise Midgeon and Transylvania. I'm sure she'll enjoy it there."

"Hmm. You were in the same year as Ms. Midgeon, if my memory serves me correctly. What did you think of her?"

"Me?" Asked Hermione, surprised, for that was not a typical Dumbledore question. Those were usually much more philosophical and indirect, "Well, she was a Hufflepuff. I didn't know her all that well. You might ask Ariel Nott. They would have shared a dormitory" She stopped short at the look that came over Dumbledore's face when she mentioned Ariel. It gave her the eerie feeling that this conversation had never had anything to do with Eloise Midgeon. It was a Dumbledore question after all.

"Ah, yes. Ms. Nott. So many of my students are doing well these days. It's good to see."

"Pardon me Professor, but what exactly is Ariel doing well at? I wasn't even aware that she had a job."

"Oh, she writes a weekly column in _Witch Weekly_. Something called 'The Soceress Socialite's Corner'. But I was referring to her escapade last week. It was very kind of her to bring young Claire to the safety of M.L.E.S., don't you think?"

"I do." Hermione agreed, but her eyes plainly said that she didn't.

"Why do you think, then, that I got the impression you were less than fond of Ms. Nott? I could of course, be mistaken"

Hermione sighed. She should have known she wouldn't be able to fool Dumbledore. "Well, sir, to be honest, I'm not. She's too sugary sweet. Something just doesn't ring true." Like the way she looks at Ron with those big, brown eyes? A voice in her head nagged, but she ignored it.

"An interesting assessment." Dumbledore said, diplomatically, when the telephone on Hermione's desk rang and interrupted him. She picked it up, glad for the reprieve, and to be able to look away from Dumbledore's piercing eyes. 

"Hello?"

"Hermione? It's Penny. They've caught the illegal apparator, and I thought you'd like to be the first with the story. Come on over, the sooner the better."

"Penny? I'm on my way. Do you mind if I bring Professor Dumbledore, along? He came to visit me."

"Of course not." She said and hung up.

Hermione turned to Dumbledore, "Sir, that was Penelope Weasley. They've been having some problems with an unregistered apparator on their property for a few weeks now, and Penny wanted to let me know that they just caught him" Then it occurred to Hermione that she didn't even know if it _was_ a 'him'. "Or her." She added, "I've got to get over there, now, because Penny offered me first dibs on the story. You're welcome to join me if you like. You could meet Devon and Molly, Claire's older siblings."

"That would be delightful." Dumbledore said, rising from his seat and holding out his arm for Hermione. She had to laugh, it was such an old-fashioned gesture, but it touched her all the same. Dumbledore had always seemed like a surrogate grandfather to her, probably because he'd been so close to Harry and she looked at him like a brother. She smiled, slid her arm through his, and they disapparated together.

When they popped up in Percy and Penny's driveway, the place was swarming with uniformed M.L.E.S agents, but Hermione didn't spot Ron amongst them. They headed into the house after producing identification for the guard at the door. Hermione looked around for Penny and found her and Percy sitting in the living room with the children. 

"Penny! Percy! Is everyone okay? Who was it?" She asked quickly.

"We're all fine Hermione. Hello again Professor. It's good to see you." Penny smiled wearily at Dumbledore.

"And you, Penelope." Dumbledore said. "I came along to meet some very special children that I missed out on at our last meeting."

"Oh, yes!" Percy was jolted from his thoughts. "Molly, Devon. This is Professor Dumbledore. He'll be your headmaster at Hogwarts when you attend."

"I certainly hope so." Dumbledore said as he twinkled down at the two children. "I'm sure you'll be wonderful students, as both your parents were, but more than that, I'm sure you're already wonderful people."

Molly, clinging to her father's robes, blushed and hid her face, but Devon offered Dumbledore a toothy smile and said, "Tanks." He then turned to Hermione and spoke to her, "There's a bad guy in the kitchen Auntie 'Mione. Uncle Ron's gonna arrest 'im."

"Is he really, Devon?" Hermione asked, shooting Penny a questioning look. Now she understood why she hadn't seen Ron yet.

"Now, Devon, we don't know that Uncle Ron's going to arrest anyone." Percy pointed out.

"I heard him." Devon said proudly, "He said 'There's nothing I'd like more than to arrest you'." 

"Well, Uncle Ron has his reasons for that, Devon." Penny said, and noticing Hermione's surprised look she said, "Perhaps you'd better see for yourselfyou too, Professor." She led them out into the hallway and towards the kitchen, and for the first time since their arrival, she recognized the sound of voices coming from behind the door. 'Voice' would be more appropriate, actually, since Ron seemed to be doing all the talking.

"Why did you do this? I mean, it's small potatoes, not to mention stupid. All you managed to do was piss a lot of people at ministry off _and_ get caught. Now that last part isn't like you. What were you up to? Planning some half-assed assassination of Percy or something?"

Whoever Ron was interrogating didn't answer verbally, but rather with a derisive snort. A derisive _familiar_ snort to Hermione. But it couldn't be

As Penny pushed open the door, two people looked up. Ron was standing over someone who was slumped, relaxed in a kitchen chair, his back to the door. Before he even turned around, Hermione knew who she'd be faced with. When he did face them, his sardonic response was all too similar to many she'd heard before.

"The _Prophet_'s chief reporter and high-and-mighty Dumbledore, all for little old me? What, did you forget to notify His Highness Harry Potter that his favorite Slytherin had finally been caught for _apparating_ to the wrong place at the wrong time?" drawled Draco Malfoy.

~ Chapter 8~

Hermione sat on a bench in a hallway in the M.L.E.S. headquarters nervously tapping her foot. Once she and Dumbledore had entered the kitchen, Ron had decided Malfoy was having difficulty concentrating on his answers, so he'd apparated with Malfoy back to HQ (headquarters) for a proper interrogation, with Hermione close behind. Dumbledore had decided to stay behind to visit with Penny, Percy, and the children. Hermione had noticed the surprise and disappointment in his blue eyes when faced with Malfoy, and, had she been mistaken? Perhaps a modicum of doubt. Now Ron and Malfoy had been in the magically sealed interrogation room for upwards of two hours, and Hermione had no idea what they were saying or when they'd be done saying it.

At that very moment Ron sat in a stiff wooden chair across a table from Malfoy, who sat in what seemed to be an identical chair. In fact, the chair was quite unique, apart from its twins in other interrogation rooms throughout the building. Once a suspect sat down in it, they were not able to rise again until their interrogation was through. Draco gazed steadily back at Ron, a smirk on his face.

"So Weasley, what are you going to charge me with? Wanting the wrong job?"

"You don't seriously expect me to believe that you apparated to my brother and sister-in-law's house to ask Percy for a _job_?" Ron snorted in disbelief. "Come on Malfoy, you can do better than that. We all know you'd rather die than work for the ministry."

"Maybe this ministry, but not the Transylvanian ministry. They do things differently over there. And certainly I could do better than this, but I don't have to." He made a moue of distaste, "It's the truth."

At this Ron gave a short laugh. "Gee Malfoy," he said sarcastically, "why do I have a hard time believing that?"

"I don't know. Why do you?"

"Maybe it's because you're a lying git." Ron suggested helpfully.

"Or maybe it's because you're a prejudiced agent." Malfoy shot back. Ron didn't answer. He looked up as a uniformed agent walked in. He rose and followed the agent out into the interrogation prep room, where they were out of Malfoy's earshot.

"Sorry boss." The agent said. "We have no evidence to contradict his story. We've got to let him go."

"Shit." Ron let out a breath, "What about the multiple illegal apparations to the Minister of Magic's house? Aren't they evidence of something?" He asked belligerently, though he already knew why they couldn't detain Malfoy any longer. "You go get rid of him. I don't want to see his face again. And tell him I'll be watching him." He added as an afterthought heading out into the hall. Hermione jumped up as he came out of a door to her left.

"Well? What happened?" she asked anxiously, apparently willing to put aside all the arguments and fights they'd had for the time being. 

"Nothing happened." Ron answered as she followed him back to his office.

"What? What do you mean nothing happened?"

"Nothing happened." He repeated, sitting down behind his desk, "He made up some cock and bull story about going to Percy to ask about the Transylvanian Liason job, and we had to let him go."

"Let him go?" She repeated "How could you? And Eloise Midgeon has the Transylvania job. It's practically a lock."

Ron raised his eyebrows, "Eloise Midgeon? And as to how could Iwell, how could I not? We have these handy little things called laws- but occasionally they really piss me off and allow a criminal to get off scot free."

"Very funny." Hermione snapped. "Thanks so much for the legal lesson."

"No problem. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." He gestured to a messy pile of paperwork on his desk.

"So do I. Why do you think I'm here?"

Though not intended as an insult, the statement hit Ron like one. Why had he thought she was there? Certainly not for work, that was for sure.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm an investigative reporter, you're an investigator. Here we have an investigation." Was she saying what he thought she was saying? Ron almost laughed, but caught himself just in time.

"Are you suggesting we work together?" 

"That's exactly what I'm suggesting." Hermione responded, leveling him with a gaze that could slice diamonds. In his business Ron had faced some of England's most dangerous magical criminals without batting an eye, but that gaze of Hermione's had been able to make him flinch since they'd both been eleven years old. He was struck anew by how much she reminded him of Professor McGonagall in so many ways: that gaze was one; but in so many other ways they were completely different. Oh yes- completely different. Ron couldn't imagine anyone doing some of things he and Hermione had done with Professor McGonagall. He shook himself away from painful memories. They'd get him nowhere.

"It'll be dangerous, and what about everything that's happened?" he asked, knowing she'd understand what he meant.

"In the interests of justice, I can deal with it if you can." 

The tension in the air could have been sliced with a knife, but Ron met her gaze squarely, "Deal."

Hermione was pretty sure her heart was in her throat as she said, "Well, let's get to work." and pulled out a notepad. "So, we believe Malfoy is guilty of the illegal apparations, right?"

"Right. But here's the million-galleon question: why?" Ron replied.

"That, I just don't know."

* * *

The next morning, Harry sat at his breakfast table reading the freshly delivered copy of _The Daily Prophet_ and drinking a cup of coffee. One of Hermione's stories was on the front page. The headline read: **Deatheater's Son Caught Apparating To Minister's Residence** The article, though concise and complete, was not news to Harry. Ron had called him the night before to let him know that he'd been questioning Malfoy because a guard had caught him on Percy and Penny's property. This had not been the most surprising news of the conversation, though. Ron had also mentioned (very casually, but it was obvious he was dying to know what Harry thought) that he and Hermione had decided to work together on the case. Harry had been shocked.

"Are you kidding Ron? That'll be dangerous. Don't you know what could happen?"

"Of course I do! But if I tell her no, she'll think I don't think she's a professional, or that I think just because she's a woman she can't handle it, or some other rubbish. Don't you remember what happened when I suggested she might be working to hard? At least she's talking to me in full sentences now, even if it is only in a professional capacity."

"True." Harry'd agreed.

"Thanks for your overwhelming support." Ron had said sarcastically.

"Hey! Don't jump down my throat because you happen to be in love with someone who is just as stubborn as you are. It's not my fault."

"Whatever." Ron had responded, wondering about Harry's choice of words: was he in love with Hermione? He had been once, but could they ever go back?

The conversation had ended there, and Harry for one hadn't thought twice about what he'd said. He knew that Ron was in love with Hermione and she with him. They had been ever since their days at Hogwarts, and off and on in the years thereafter. More on than off, though. This was by far the longest break up they'd ever had, but unless Harry was much mistaken, it was soon to be mendedhe hoped.

If Ron and Hermione had had a sort of volcano-like relationship since their fifth year in Hogwarts: volatile but strong; Harry's own love life could only be described as windswept. He'd floated along from girl to girl, a week or two with her, a month or two with her, never finding quite what he was searching for. Why, then, did he find his thoughts now floating to the pretty face of Ginny Weasley? He shook the thought from his head and back to Ron and Hermione. He wondered whether they'd end up killing or kissing each other by the time they'd seen this through.

* * * 

At that moment Ginny sat in her flat in Paris (she had three: one small loft in London, an _appartemente _in the Latin Quarteron the left bank in Paris, and a one room bed-sit in Milan. Currently she was perched on her comfortable couch, hunched over her sketchpad, waiting for inspiration to strike her (it was certainly taking its time). She looked up as a fire suddenly started blazing in the fireplace, and low and behold, Hermione's head emerged among the flames.

"Ginny?"

"Hey 'Mione. What's up?"

"Well, Ron and I are working together to catch Malfoy. We think he's behind the apparations at Percy and Penny's." Ginny's eyebrows had begun to rise at the words 'Ron and I' and didn't seem to have stopped yet. They were nearing her hairline.

"You're working together? Last I heard, you hated each other."

Hermione looked hurt by this observation, "I don't hate him." She said quietly, "He may drive me completely nuts, but I could never hate him." Ginny smiled at this and said, "That's good to hear. So you think Malfoy's behind this, huh? Why?"

"We don't know, but he was caught apparating there yesterday. I thought you'd like to know before I go to M.L.E.S."

"Thanks for keeping me informed. Oh and Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"Wear those blues robes I gave you for Christmas a few years back, and a little perfume wouldn't hurt either." Hermione rolled her eyes and with a 'pop' she was gone. Ginny hopped off the couch and took a pinch of powder out of a jar on the mantle. Tossing it into the flames she stuck her head in after them.

* * *

Harry gave a start as his fireplace started up without warning. He expected someone to come flying out of it, via floo powder, but to his surprise (and secret delight) the sight that greeted him was Ginny Weasley's head.

"Hi, Ginny." He said as he went to sit on the floor, cross-legged, in front of her.

"Hey Harry. I was wondering, have you heard from Ron lately?"

"Last night, why?"

"I take it you've heard that he and Hermione are working together? She just told me."

He nodded, "Yeah. Ron told me."

"What do you think?"

"To be honest, I was just trying to decide whether they'd kiss or kill each other first."

Ginny laughed, "With those two either one is equally possible."

"Don't I know it!" Harry laughed with her, "Well, as much as I'd love to stay, duty calls. Work and all that."

"Another top secret mission to save the world for all us innocent people?" Ginny asked with a grin.

"What else?" Harry rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. In truth, he loved his job. It was hard, challenging, emotionally and physically trying; everything he needed to help him feel alive. That was part of the rush- 'pushing the envelope' as the muggles said. Speaking of muggles, he wondered what the Dursley's would think if they could see him now. On his short walk to work (he always walked rather than apparated if he wasn't in a hurry) he tried to imagine Dudley's face if someone told him that his formerly scrawny cousin was now every deatheater's worst nightmare (of course he'd have to be told what a deatheater was, first). Harry laughed at the thought of trying to explain this without using words like 'magic' or 'wizard' which didn't seem to be part of Dudley's none-to extensive-vocabulary. When Harry reached the stone white building that was the headquarters and training academy for all Aurors he was surprised that the guard at the secure door had a message for him.

"Chief Potter, sir. There's a man waiting in meeting room 206 for you, A muggle." Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. A muggle?_ Here_? The Aurors' building had certain rooms that were delegated as 'meeting rooms'. Their offices were never in the same place; they tended to move around, as did all the top-secret rooms. You could only be guided to one by a special floating talisman that knew where you were authorized to go. However, for cases such as this, they had a whole floor of meeting and interrogation rooms that didn't move at all. All they contained was enough furniture to make the visit tolerable and get rid of the outsider as quickly as possible. Organizations like the Aurors didn't like having unknown people inside their walls. Harry strode up to the door to meeting room 206 and pushed it open. He certainly wasn't prepared for who he saw sitting there.

"_Dudley_?" He stared, amazed at his cousin, who looked perfectly terrified of his entire surroundings and very uncomfortable in the wooden chair that was only managing to hold up about 50% of his sizeable rear-end.

Dudley looked as though he wanted to get up and make a run for it but couldn't bring himself to. If we could have seen through his eyes (yes, I know we can't, but hey, I'm the author- I can do what I want) this is roughly the impression we would get. A tall man, who looked vaguely familiar, pushed open the door to this horrible little room. The only things that hadn't really changed were his sparkling green eyes and that odd scar on his forehead. Of course Dudley had never known Harry's father, and wasn't Mum always saying how he looked like his wretch of a father? His hair was as unruly as ever, but it seemed almost carelessly fashionable, not messy as it had before. Harry had finally grown, quite a bit in fact. With his six-foot-two frame, he had a good half a foot on Dudley. He was, in fact, very handsome, but Dudley wasn't about to admit this to anyone. Certainly not Harry, not even to himself.

"What on earth are you doing here Dudley? How did you even find here?"

Dudley looked almost too scared to open his mouth, but he mustered all his courage and did so. Apparently he found the second question easier to deal with because he said, "I found the address on one of those envelopes from your school for some 'Diagon Alley' I had to follow two people in robes," He shuddered, "into a pub I didn't even know was there. Then I asked the bar tender where I could find Harry Potter." He shook again, remembering the uproar this statement had caused in the Leaky Cauldron. "He took me out into this" He seemed to be searching for the right word, "this street." Was his inventive answer. "Then he took me to this place. I think he thought I was some sort of weird tourist. Why on earth would a tourist want to see you?"

Harry fought, with some difficulty, to suppress the smile that had appeared on his lips spontaneously at the thought of Dudley thinking.

"No idea." He said hastily, not wanting to go into the issue of his fame with Dudley here and now. "Why did you go through all that to see me? You hate me." Harry reminded him.

"I know that. But someone, one of _your _kind, was poking around the garden yesterday."

"You mean a wizard?" Asked Harry without thinking. Dudley cringed at the word the way most wizards did when he said the name 'Voldemort'. Harry shook his head. "What'd they look like? Man or woman? Are we talking about #4 Privet Drive, or your house?"

"Both. I still live at home," Dudley said, blushing a brilliant shade of fuschia that reminded Harry of Ron when Hermione had first kissed him, in front of the whole common room. "And I couldn't tell if it was a man or woman. Could have been either, but whoever it was was blonde."

"How did you know it was a wizard if you couldn't see them well?" Harry asked reasonably.

"They were wearing long black robes, weren't they?" Dudley said, a scowl on his face.

"And last but not least, why'd you come to me?" Harry asked. Dudley looked at him like he was insane.

"You're the only 'one of them' we know! It's bound to be your fault- now fix it!" He burst out. Harry was mildly surprised, but not much, and strongly reminded of his Uncle Vernon.

"Why would I want to do that?" He asked, deciding to play with Dudley a bit.

"Bebecause we're your family!" That was lame, even for Dudley. Harry snorted. 

"Yeah, right. My loving family who made me sleep in a cupboard for ten years of my childhood. We're a close-knit group, we are. However, if it makes you feel any better (and Harry knew it wouldn't) most wizards live among mug- er, people like you, and this one was probably just stopping to smell the roses- literally. Now run along, Dudley. I've got work to do." Harry particularly enjoyed the expression on Dudley's face as he said this, and had to restrain himself from laughing as Dudley, with no little amount of difficulty got to his feet and waddled as quickly as he could out the door and down to the bank of elevators Harry had transfigured into the wall just in time for him to return to the ground floor and leave. When he had gone from the building and Harry watched him hurry down the street out of the window of 'meeting room 206' he broke into peals of laughter.

~ Chapter 9 ~

Hermione tapped on the door to Ron's office twice and pushed it open when she heard a grumbled "C'm in." She was surprised to not only find Ron, seated behind his desk nursing a cup of coffee, but three other people as well. There were two men, one just short of six feet with inky-dark skin and muscular with a shaved head and the second- slightly shorter and beefy with tousled brown hair. The third person was a woman, seated atop the filing cabinet. With her petite frame, her feet dangled a ways from the floor. She was probably no taller than five feet and two inches. Her honey colored skin, was clear, and her long, straight, jet black hair was swept up into a no-nonsense bun, but a few strands had escaped her a hung loosely around her face, framing her dark eyes. Hermione liked her instantly.

"Morning, Hermione." Ron said, nodding to her. "Allow me to introduce M.L.E.S. squad 14- Alexander Morinov," he gestured to the beefy man with brown hair, who stood up quickly, saying "Call me Alex. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Granger. I've read all your articles." Hermione shook his outstretched hand and smiled as Ron rolled his eyes and the bald guy laughed. "Pleased to meet you too, Alex. And you can call me Hermione."

Ron interrupted, "This is Jake Winston." He said pointing at the man who'd just laughed. He too got to his feet and shook Hermione's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Hermione." 

"You too, Jake."

"And that," Ron finished his chore by pointing at the woman on the filing cabinet, "Is Delia Smith." Delia hopped down and brushed one of the errant strands out of her face, sticking out her hand to Hermione. "It's nice to meet you Hermione." She spoke in a soft, melodic voice with a slight accent. Noticing Hermione's surprised look, she smiled, "I'm from the West Indies. I moved across the pond to jolly old England two years ago and joined M.L.E.S pretty much right away. It'll be good to work with another woman for once." She rolled her eyes towards the three men around the desk. "You can't imagine what these three are like on a stake-out. I'm pretty sure they've started an anti-bathing and 24 hour coffee drinkers club." Hermione laughed.

"I bet. I'm looking forward to working with you, too. All of you guys, actually." She said looking up and smiling at each of them in turn. Ron's gaze caught hers briefly, but she looked away. It still hurt to see the pain in his eyes. The pain she had put there. It had been his fault. She was sure of that. He was the one who had attacked her work ethic. He was the one who wanted her to be a 'little woman': a little wife. Wait. Ron had never said that, had he? No, but he had _implied_ it. She was positive about that. Maybe that was the problem - that he never _had_ said that. They'd been dating for years, living together for months and he'd never even mentioned 'It'. She had no indication he'd even thought about 'It'. Well, Hermione had thought about It, she'd thought about It so much that It had grown a capital 'I'. There was no doubt in her mind- the break up had been Ron's fault. So why did she feel so guilty?

Ron had sat back down at his desk and pulled a file folder out from under a pile of old newspapers. Hermione recognized many of the headlines as her own. 

"Here's a transcript of my interview with Malfoy." Ron said, handing them each one. "You notice that his address is at the very beginning?"

They nodded, "Good. Deli, I want you and Jake to go case the place. Understand it; figure out where you're going, look for anything strange that shouldn't be there. Alex, I need you to get me all Malfoy's previous records: everything down to flying his broom too fast. Hermione and I will go to the apparation monitors' office in the ministry and see if we can't find where he might have disapparated to after leaving Penny and Percy's. I want to meet back here at" He checked his watch, "four o'clock with whatever you've got. Get to it." They all stood up and filed out of the office murmuring things like "Yes boss." Hermione however stood still, waiting for Ron to do something first. He did, pulling on his cloak and gesturing to the door, indicating she could go first. Hermione obliged and stood in the hall until he came out. 

"What are we going to do at the apparation monitors'?" She asked, "I didn't think they could detect who apparated, just where, ever since the Wizards' Privacy Act of 1868."

Ron hid a smile. She didn't change, Hermione. "Yes, but we can look for places that were apparated to right after Malfoy would have disapparated from Percy's. There's a good chance that there is a pattern in where he went. If there is, then we can follow it."

Hermione was impressed. That had never occurred to her- but then, this was Ron's job, and by all accounts he was very good at it. Harry had said so, his squad seemed to respect him, he was very young to be a squad leader, and most importantly to Hermione, he seemed totally comfortable in his job. He finally seemed to have stepped out of the shadows of Harry and his brothers and come into his own. She was pleased for him. They arrived at the office of the apparation monitors' in seconds and Hermione was surprised to find someone waiting to welcome them, until she remembered that they must have known they were coming- after all, they monitored apparations for a living. 

"Welcome, Mr. and Mrs.?" The young man who greeted them said.

Ron rolled his eyes as Hermione stuck out her hand and said, "Granger. _Ms._ Hermione Granger."

"Of course. So sorry." The young man spluttered.

"Ron Weasley." Ron said, offering his hand as well, to salve the poor guy's embarrassment. He took out his M.L.E.S. badge and continued, "I wondered if we could have a look at your and disapparation records for these dates." He held out a sheet of parchment with the dates and times of each apparation to Percy's house written neatly on it. 

"Certainly, Agent Weasley." The young man said formally, while Hermione stifled a laugh. "Come right this way. These are all recent apparations, so they'll be in our current year vault." He headed down a hall that reminded Hermione strongly of a muggle lab she'd visited as a child. There were gray walls with glass doors on either side. Each door had no handle, but a device to see if the person was registered to be there. They were little black boxes that looked like you held a muggle key card under them, but they had a little hole in the middle of each one. Their guide turned to one door on the left and pulled out his wand. At first Hermione thought he was going to use 'Alohomora' but he inserted the tip of his wand in the hole in the black box. A second later the door before them simply dissolved and they stepped inside. Hermione was surprised not to find wall to wall records, but rather it looked like the walls had been painted to look like parchment, and a giant quill had written the year's calendar upon them. In the center of the room stood a lone table, surrounded by squishy chairs. The young man was explaining to Ron how to obtain the records he wanted. 

"You just take your wand and tap the day you want." He gestured to the giant calendar, "and the records for that day will appear on the table. They're in chronological order, and since you have the times you're looking for, you shouldn't have any trouble. If you'll excuse me, I have some important work to do. Good luck Agent Weasley, Ms. Granger." He nodded at each of them in turn and disapparated.

When he was gone, Ron turned to Hermione, a grin spreading on his face. 

"Who'd he remind you of?" He asked.

"Ummm. Percy about five years ago." She said, smiling as well.

"I was going to say Percy yesterday, but yeah!" He said and they both cracked up.

Once Hermione had gotten control of herself she took the piece of parchment with the dates on it and said, "I'll do the first three. You can take the last three." And handed it to him. She walked over to the month of September and tapped a date down near the bottom. Sure enough, a stack of parchment materialized on the table instantly. She sat down in a squishy armchair and started to sift through the data. Finally she found Malfoy's disapparation from Percy and Penny's house. At the same time there had been three apparations: one to Diagon Alley, one to Kent, and one to Stonehenge. She told Ron this and he looked up from his own stack of records. 

"Yes. I've got Diagon Alley, Stonehenge, Hogsmeade, and somewhere in France this time."

"So we have to narrow it down to either Diagon Alley or Stonehenge." Hermione concluded. "As to Diagon Alley, well we all know the best place to hide is in a crowd, but Stonehenge has interesting possibilities as well."

"Hey! I've got it." Ron looked up from a new stack of records, "This time there was only one simultaneous apparation as Malfoy's disapparation to Stonehenge."

"That's it then." Hermione said, sitting back in her chair, "But wouldn't you think that Malfoy would have been smart enough to disapparate to different places, so we couldn't trace him?" 

"Apparently not." Ron said, pointing at the paper, "Maybe we just overestimated him."

"Oh yeah," Hermione snorted, "I bet that's it!"

"Well," Ron smiled, "Maybe not, but he must not know that the ministry keeps tabs on apparations. There's only one thing to do now- I'll have to follow him."

"What, go to Stonehenge?" 

"Exactly."

"When?"

"Now. I'll go. You stay." He could see her about to protest, "No, 'Mione. You have to stay because there's no way I can get back before four o'clock for the meeting with the team. You'll have to go to that, find out what they got, and then I'll meet you back in my office at six. If I don't show up, then get either the squad or Harry to come after me."

Though Hermione wanted to go, too, she knew why she couldn't. Someone had to meet with Ron's squad. That someone had to be her.

"I'll just go back to my office until its time for the meeting, shall I?"

He nodded, looking relieved that she wasn't going to fight with him about it. "And I'll disapparate to Stonehenge form here." He stood up. "I'll see you this evening, 'Mione." 

She nodded and then after a second added, "Oh, and Ron?" He looked back at her, "Be careful."

~ Chapter 10 ~ (If you've made it this far- I salute you!)

Ron materialized in a place he'd been only once before, as a young child. He remembered his father telling them all about the powerful magic that could be done at Stonehenge. It was one of the most naturally magical places in all of Britain. He walked around the great stones, trying not to look suspicious to the few muggle tourists who were there on a weekday during the off-season. It was mid October and the wind was chilling, but Ron had more important things on his mind: where was Malfoy's hiding place here? It must be well hidden, because there were always a few tourists about. Ron leaned up against one of the huge slabs trying to think like Malfoy, when, much to his surprise, he fell through it.

The stone was a portkey, or some kind of portal like the barrier to platform 9 and 3/4 in King's Cross. As Ron pushed himself to his feet he looked around. He was in a small, damp hallway with no windows. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all stone, dimly lit by torches. He must be underground- underneath Stonehenge. Ron was about to explore further when he heard footsteps behind. He whirled around, wand out, but only caught a fleeting glimpse of the person before they yelled "Stupefy!" and everything went black.

* * *

Hermione sat at her desk perusing a report about Harry, of all people. One of the younger reporters, a girl named Gillian, who was about 3 years younger than Hermione, had written it as a writing sample for the editor and had asked Hermione to proofread it before she handed it in. Hermione had agreed, because she had little else to do before her meeting with Ron's squad that afternoon and she was anxious to keep her mind off all of the ways Ron was putting himself in danger right then. The piece was very well written, but it was more of something that would be sent out to every new member of the Harry Potter Fan Club than published in a premier wizarding newspaper. She suspected Gillian had something of a crush on Harry- she made a mental note to tease him about it later. Hermione scribbled a few notes to Gillian at the bottom of the page and walked out into the hallway where people's 'in' boxes were. She slid the story into Gillian's and after checking her own, glanced at her watch.

"Goodness! Is that the time?" She hurried back into her office, grabbed her cloak and disapparated to Ron's.

Waiting for her, were Delia and Jake, but Alex had not arrived yet.

"Hi guys. Ron had to be somewhere so he asked me to see what you'd found out so far." 

Jake looked surprised and Delia raised her eyebrows but said only, "Well, we cased the Malfoy place. The address was for Malfoy Manor- he inherited it when his dad died, but it's unlikely he lives there since the mother still does."

"It's a creepy place." Jake continued, "I mean weird. Just the kind of place a deatheater would live."

"Well, one did, and maybe another one still does." Hermione responded, "So did you see Draco, or just Narcissa?"

"That's the mum's name huh?" Delia asked, chewing her lip. "Appropriate. No we didn't see junior. He wasn't around unless he's got an invisibility cloak or something. The mother doesn't go out much if what we saw was any indication. There are four main entrances and none of them appeared overly used if you ask me." Hermione nodded.

"That sounds accurate. From what I heard, after Lucius' death Narcissa became something of a recluse." They all three looked up as Alex entered.

"Sorry I'm late, but this guy's got a record you wouldn't believe." He was carrying a thick stack of papers, which he dumped on Ron's desk. "Where's Ron?" 

After Hermione explained this she asked, "So what's Mr. Malfoy been up to since our fateful graduation?"

"Everything and anything, from the looks of it." Alex said. "His place, Malfoy Manor as well as his own apartment, have been raided by the ministry more times than anyone's bothered to count, but he's tough to catch, apparently. Charges were only brought a handful of times." Hermione nodded; this fit with the Draco Malfoy she knew from Hogwarts. "And?"

"And he seems to have a penchant for making threats, which are thinly disguised as warnings. He has one favorite target in particular-"

"Let me guess" Hermione said, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling.

Alex nodded, "Harry Potter."

"Oh yes. They got on so well in school together, too." She said sarcastically. "Anything else?" 

"Well sure, there's a whole stack of something elses, but we'd be here till tomorrow if I told you about each one. Those are the really important bits."

She nodded, "Well, thanks Alex. And Delia and Jake. You guys did great. You can go home now if you want. I'm going to get some dinner and then meet Ron and tell him all this." She stood up and so did the others. 

"Where are you going to get something to eat?" Delia asked as they walked down the hallway.

"Oh I'll probably just grab something quickly at the Leaky Cauldron." She said, "Why?"

"Mind if I tag along?" Delia asked.

"Not at all. Let's go." And they headed out into Diagon Alley and down towards the pub. Once they were seated inside and had placed their orders with Tom, Delia said something Hermione hadn't expected.

"So when did you and Ron get back together?"

Hermione stared at her. "I wasn't aware we had." 

"Oh, you have. I can see it in your eyes. You may not know it yet, but something changed. I can tell." 

Hermione looked at her shocked. "Do you mind if we change the subject?"

"Not at all. I tend to be kind of blunt, sorry." And they spent the rest of the evening chatting about various topics, from Harry, to Hogwarts, to quidditch, to what it was like being muggle born. When they'd finished eating Hermione noticed that the clock on the wall was pointing to 'You're late'. She looked at her watch and indeed she was. It was 6:15. With a hurried apology to Delia she rushed out of the Leaky Cauldron and was close to sprinting to Ron's office when she remembered that she was a witch, at which point she apparated the rest of the way. Much to her relief Ron wasn't there yet either- he'd always had a punctuality problem. She sat down in his chair and started to read the stack of reports that Alex had gathered on Malfoy. He'd been busy since Hogwarts- suspected of breaking the laws faster than the ministry could pass them. 'Suspected' being the operative word- Malfoy had always been a rule-breaker (of course, so had Harry and Ron, and even Hermione occasionally), but he was usually good enough not to get caught. After Hermione had been reading for almost an hour, she started to get worried. Even Ron was rarely this late, something was wrong. Her first thought was to go after him, but then she remembered what he'd said. She should either alert his squad or Harry. After a moment's indecision she apparated to Harry's apartment, only to find it empty. She racked her brain trying to think where he might have gone: the Auror's? Possible, but not likely. A friend's? No. Oh! That was it! Ginny was back in town- if Hermione remembered correctly she'd have arrived yesterday. She hurriedly apparated to Ginny's London loft and found a half-eaten plate of pasta getting cold on the table. Where had everyone gone? She wondered, then she said, "Oh what the hell!" and apparated to her own apartment to grab some muggle clothes. After all, she'd have to fit in at Stonehenge.

When Hermione reached her home she raced into her bedroom, yanking her robes off as she went and pulling a charcoal gray, turtle-necked sweater over her head. She then yanked on a pair of gray wool slacks and wrestled her hair into a tortoise shell barrette at the nape of her neck. She wanted to look inconspicuous; to blend in among the stones, and if this outfit didn't do it, nothing would. Then as an afterthought, she grabbed the time-turner she'd been given by Dumbledore at graduation and slung it around her neck, just in case. She still wasn't quite sure why he'd given it to her and she'd never used it, but somehow she thought it might be important this time. As Hermione ran back through her apartment, grabbing her wand out of her purse in the living room, she didn't even notice her muggle answering machine blinking, indicating that she had two messages.

* * * 

When she popped up on the out skirts of Stonehenge she was pleased to see it virtually deserted. There was only one muggle couple, American she thought, judging from their accents, and a young woman in uniform who must be the guard. She circled the ring of standing stones three times, examining each one closely, but nothing distinguished them from the other times she'd been to see them, nothing looked out of the ordinary. She searched for an entrance to anything, but no luck. Then an idea hit her. It had been about five hours since Ron had apparated here. She reached under her turtle-necked collar and pulled out the time turner. Walking behind one of the stones across the circle from the Americans and the guard, she turned it five times. A whirl of color and bright light were all she could distinguish before she felt gravity take hold of her again and she was leaning against the same stone as before. Several things were different, though. Now, although there was a crisp breeze, it was significantly warmer than it had been later in the day. The sun was still high in the sky and blazing down on the historic stones. There were more people, too. Perhaps not a lot, only ten or fifteen, as it wasn't the tourist season, but enough to make Hermione feel a little out of place being held up by a stone. She pulled herself together and straightened up. Then she started to walk around the stones once more and sure enough, she spotted the familiar shock of red hair walking on the other side of the circle. She watched as Ron leaned against a stone, looking as confused as she felt, and then slipped through it. It reminded her strongly of the time Harry and Mr. Weasley had leaned against the barrier between platforms nine and ten at King's Cross Station to get through to platform 9 and 3/4. Hermione hurried around the circle to the stone Ron had disappeared into and imitated him by leaning against it. Sure enough, she fell right through and fell through what seemed to be darkness. Right before she hit the ground with a soft thump she heard a voice cry "Stupefy!"

* * *

Ron blinked groggily and looked around him. He was still underground, but in a chamber now, with a higher ceiling than the hall had had. As his gaze traveled downward he noticed that he was behind iron bars, in a cell lying on a pile of straw. Very medieval, he thought with a wry smile. He still didn't know who had stunned him. He'd only caught a glimpse of blonde hair before he'd been knocked out. It could have been Malfoy or one of his henchmen. He struggled to his feet as he heard footsteps coming down the hall to his right. As his jailer entered the room, Ron could not stop himself from gasping.

"You!" He said, pointing at her.

"Me." Said Ariel Nott, smiling coldy.

"What on earth do you want with me? What did you want with Percy?"

"Percy?" She looked confused, "Oh! The apparations. They were just to get closer to you." At his puzzled look she elaborated, "Well, it worked didn't it? Eventually, that is. I would never have been able to it without little Claire's help. I finally figured out when Hermione mentioned the illegal apparations with me still in earshot why every one was so 'on their guard' there. The next time I tried I apparated outside their property and just walked on. It was really chaotic, what with the party and all, so Claire was more than happy to come with me once I'd offered her a lollypop."

Ron glared at her, "What do you want with me that requires using small children?"

"It's not you personally, of course." She said, as though trying to make him feel better, "Oh no. You're just the bait. I want Potter." Ron groaned. 

"Why do you want Harry?"

"So I can deliver him to the Dark Lord and take my rightful place among the deatheaters, of course. Did you know that my father was one of _His_ inner circle?" Ron could hear the awe in her voice when she said 'his'. "Do you know how humiliating it was to rush up to the sorting hat eagerly, knowing, just _knowing_, that in a few seconds all my dreams would come true and I'd finally be a Slytherin; and then when I pulled the hat on it barely wasted a second putting me into, of all houses, _Hufflepuff_? Do you?" There was an accusatory note in her voice. "I'd rather have been a Gryffindor before that! At least the Gryffindors are worthy of a Slytherin's detest. Hufflepuffs are below notice! Do you know how it feels to have people you grew up with refuse to acknowledge your existence? To have the one and only boy you've ever loved think you're lower than dirt?" She spat out the words as though they'd left a nasty taste in her mouth. Until this point Ron had stood perfectly still behind his bars, shocked into silence. Now, however, he spoke up. 

"Don't tell me" He began, but Ariel cut him off.

"Draco Malfoy." She stated the name almost tenderly, despite the rage that was flushing her pale face. "I love him more than my own life, and when I deliver Harry Potter to the Dark Lord, he'll finally return my feelings." For the first time in his twenty-three year old life, Ron found himself actually feeling sorry for Malfoy.

"So," Ron said, trying to keep his voice casual and calm, "when is Harry supposed to come for me?"

"How should I know?" Ariel asked, "Whenever he turns up I suppose, but you weren't even supposed to come till tomorrow. We're ahead of schedule."

Ron stared at her, incredulous, "You mean you're just expecting Harry to turn up here, _whenever_?"

"Of course, how else should I get him here?" Ron had to fight the strange desire to laugh. He started to answer her, but thought better of it.

Instead he asked, "How were you going to get me here tomorrow?"

"You were going to escort me to a banquet for _Witch Weekly_, and on the way there I was going to stun you."

"There isn't a banquet for _Witch Weekly_ tomorrow night." Ron found himself pointing out.

"Of course not silly, but _you_ don't know that!" She was relaxing. 

Ron stopped himself just in time from saying, "I don't?" He couldn't believe it; this had to be the worst planned kidnapping in the history of kidnappings. Even a muggle could do a better job.

"So, what's the plan?" He asked, leaning against his cell wall, "Just hang here until Harry shows up?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got things to see to." She turned on her heel and headed towards the hallway she'd emerged from earlier. Suddenly a figure jumped out of the hallway on the left and yelled "Stupefy!"

Ron watched, amazed, as Ariel keeled over backwards and Hermione rushed forward and tied her up with cords from her wand. Then she turned to Ron in his cell. 

"Alohomora." She said, and the door sprang open. She rushed inside and Ron grabbed her in a hug.

"Oh Ron! I was so worried! I didn't know where you were- used the time turner- never liked Ariel- trying to capture Harry-" Her words stumbled over each other on their way out of her mouth and Ron finally kissed her to get her to be quiet. As they pulled apart she smiled up at him.

"Thanks."

"No, thank you." He said with a grin. "If it weren't for you I'd be sitting around here till sometime next month waiting for Harry to figure out that I'd been kidnapped to Stonehenge." They both laughed.

"She really expected him to just show up without knowing you were here?" Hermione asked.

"That she did." Ron answered, "I think this was the world's worst kidnapping. She didn't have a clue what she was doing. When she told me she was in love with Malfoy, for the first, and God willing the last, time in life I actually felt sorry for him." They laughed again. "Well, 'Mione. What do you say we go home?" Ron grinned down at her.

"I say" she paused, "It's about time."

~ Epilogue ~

Ron and Hermione popped up in M.L.E.S. headquarters, minutes after their capture of Ariel. Truthfully Hermione would much rather have gone straight back to either her or Ron's apartment and just fallen asleep in his arms. She was exhausted and it was almost midnight, but unfortunately they had to drop Ariel off first, so here they were. They made a strange picture, appearing in the M.L.E.S. lobby during the night shift; Ron, with the still unconscious Ariel draped over his shoulder, and Hermione carting many odd dark-arts instruments that they had found in her hideout. They thought that it must have been her father's before Ariel had taken up residence, because the instruments didn't seem to have been used for many years. The agent on duty behind the front desk jumped up when Ron appeared.

"Squad Leader Weasley!" He practically saluted and reminded Hermione not just a little of the young man at the apparation monitors' offices. Had that only been this morning? It seemed so long ago. So much had happened since then. She glanced at her watch, shifting her load, noting that it had actually been _yesterday_ morning as it was 12:14 AM, as Ron rolled his eyes and said, "At ease, Agent Clarke."

The young man blushed slightly and said, "What've you got there, sir?"

"A kidnapper and illegal apparator involved in a plot to unlawfully imprison Mr. Harry Potter, and the unlawful imprisonment of myself."

"The agent's eyes widened significantly and he jabbed hopelessly at his gabbaphone without looking down. 

Ron heaved a sigh, "Don't bother, We'll go up."

As they trudged up the stairs Hermione asked, "Where're we going up to?"

"My boss's office."

"Oh. Who is he?"

"She." Hermione tried not to look too pleased at this, "You know, I can see you grinning even though I'm looking at you." Hermione laughed.

"You know me too well. So, who is she?"

"I think you'll recognize her when you see her."

"Oh really? Yes, really." He said, as he pushed a door open to find someone seated at a desk sifting through paperwork. She looked up at the noise and Hermione did indeed recognize her. 

"Angelina!"

"Hi, Hermione." Angelina Johnson smiled at her, "Hey Ron. What brings you two here at-" she consulted her slim gold wrist-watch, "12:26 in the morning?"

"She does." Said Ron, dumping Ariel in a chair. "And now she's your problem Ange, so I'm gonna go home and get some sleep."

"Oh no you're not." Angelina said as Hermione deposited all the tools she'd been carrying in the other chair, "What'd she do?"

"She kidnapped my niece then returned her under false pretences, imprisoned me unlawfully, apparated to secured premises illegally, and was masterminding- well that's a loose word, but she was orchestrating a plan to capture Harry and turn him over to "The Dark Lord". That enough for you? Can I go now?"

"That's quite enough for me and all of cell block eight at Azkaban, and yes you can go, but not home." 

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, looking at her suspiciously, "I think you're getting sadistic at the old age of twenty-five, Angelina."

Angelina laughed, "Not quite. If it were up to me you two could go collapse and not get up for the next twenty hours, but since early this evening I've had way too many frantic phone calls for you, Ron, to ignore. One from Percy, around five, and repeated ones from Harry, Ginny, your mother and Fred."

"That many huh?" Ron said looking surprised, "What'd I do now?"

"Oh it wasn't you." She said, smiling. "It was your sister-in-law. It seems Penny's gone into labor." (A/N: I bet you all forgot she was pregnant!)

"Oh my gosh!" Hermione said, "That's where everyone went! I almost forgot she was pregnant." Ron and Angelina looked at her in surprise. 

Angelina said, "Well she won't be for much longer. You guys had better get over to St. Mungo's Maternity Ward."

"Yeah." Ron agreed, "We're on our way." He grabbed Hermione's hand and they disapparated. They appeared in the bustling reception area of St. Mungo's Hospital and ran to the receptionist's desk.

"Excuse me," Hermione said breathlessly, "Could you tell us where Penelope Weasley is?" The receptionist, a woman of around forty with dyed blonde hair, looked up from painting her long finger nails a vivid shade of red and glance at a register on her desk.

"Yeah- she's in delivery now." She said in a nasal voice, "Waiting room 413." They promptly apparated to the fourth floor and after a bit of searching spotted waiting room 413 at the end of a long corridor. They hurried towards it and as they neared the entrance Hermione began to recognize the faces inside: there was Harry next to Ginny, there were Fred and George, there was Bill, reading a magazine, there was Molly knitting baby's booties, and there was Arthur beside her. There were a couple other people she didn't know, but it was obvious that the Weasley's had come out in full force for this. Only Charlie was missing, but he'd probably arrive tomorrow. She and Ron paused in the doorway, and she reached out for his hand, which she held with her own. 

Suddenly a very frazzled, very tired, very pleased Percy burst out of one of the doors off the waiting room and announced "It's a boy!"

Molly started to cry, Arthur hugged her joyfully, Fred and George slapped each other a high five, Bill said, "Way to go Perce!" before Percy disappeared back into the delivery room, Ginny jumped up and grabbed the person nearest her in a huge hug, Harry, and Ron spun Hermione around and kissed her. When they broke apart they looked back into the waiting room and everyone was still celebrating. Bill appeared to be conjuring champagne for everyone, including the unknown couple, and Harry was looking shocked and happy because Ginny hadn't let go of him yet. Suddenly he looked up and noticed Ron and Hermione in the doorway.

"Hey! You guys made it!"

"Yeah," Hermione looked down at their still intertwined fingers and smiled up at Ron, "yeah, we did."

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A/N: :sob: It's :sob: over. Again! :wails uncontrollably: I'm okay; no really, I am! You know what would make it all better? Reviews! Lots and lots of them; but I know I don't have to beg :ahem: ask wonderful, responsible readers like yourselves to review, right? You'll just do that anyway- so go be the great people I know you are and tell me what you thought! 


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